Moroccan international Selim Amallah, 26, playing for Belgian club Standard de Liège received an outpouring of support from his supporters after the World Cup in Qatar because of the treatment he is undergoing at his current club.
The management of Standard de Liège, the club in which he has been playing since 2019, did not accept that the Belgian-Moroccan wanted to try the experience under other skies, especially outside the Belgian championship during the next transfer window.
However, the player had confided in an interview that during a discussion about the extension of his contract with the management of the Liège club, he spoke of his desires elsewhere and that she had understood his choice.
Not wanting to release the player, one of Standard de Liège’s best, the club’s management decided instead to dismiss Selim Amallah from the central core, imposing this sanction on him for not wanting to extend.
The Machiavellian plan of the Liège club aims to deprive him of media and football exposure which will allow recruiters to spot him and negotiate a contract to the advantage of the player before the end of his contract which expires in June.
This heinous and scandalous attempt by the Belgian club to undermine the career of the young attacking midfielder did not escape Selim Amallah’s supporters, especially after his high quality performance during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar where the player proved to be to be a pillar of the midfield of the 11 national of Morocco, the great revelation of this World Cup.
The coach of the Atlas Lions, Walid Regragui, called Selim Amallah despite the latter not having had enough playing time before the World Cup because he was put on the shelf by Standard de Liège, and his choice was crowned with success because since the start of the matches, the Moroccan international has shone with his talent.
Having seen the great pride of the international clubs where the Moroccan players play with regard to their performance in the World Cup and the lack of reaction or any encouragement from Standard de Liège for Selim Amallah, Internet users have launched a campaign to defend the player.
The social networks of the Liège club suffered a wave of comments on all publications with hashtags #SelimAmmallah or Free Selim Amallah slogans.
Some Internet users have judged that the club’s attitude was motivated by racism towards the Moroccan player, believing that the Liège standard would not have dared to do the same to a Belgian player or another nationality.
Indignant messages in support of Selim Amallah continue to invade the social networks of the Liège club, especially since the player, back from the World Cup where the Moroccan team was ranked 4th best in the world, was sent to train with the reserve team.
The president of Standard de Liège, Pierre Locht, justified this dismissal by the interest of the club which would come first. He thus made it clear that he did not intend to give players wanting to go elsewhere the opportunity to showcase themselves for other clubs.
“The standard will not do the job for another club. It’s not up to us to create added value for players who will leave for free.”he said in a recent interview, believing that this would sign “the death of the club”a continué Fault.
“We have decided that Selim Amallah will play with the club reserve, like three other players. And we won’t do anything to increase their market value.”he decided, revealing the real motivations of the Liège club.
Standard de Liège, which works to harm the careers of its players at the end of their contract or those who do not want to renew it like Amallah, continues to tarnish its image after a catastrophic season without the Belgian-Moroccan.
More recently, player Nicolas Raskin suffered the same fate. On an Instagram story, he announced that he had “left the table” negotiations explaining that Standard had relegated him to Core B.
“Selim was one of our best players in the matches he played, until he was dropped from the group (…) The club is the boss, not the player, not the coach, not the staff. The club determines the direction”said Ronny Deila, the coach of Standard de Liège in an interview.
The Norwegian, considered that this decision taken by the management of Standard and not by the staff, is “a really sad thing” in the case of Selim Amallah.
« Sometimes you have to make tough decisions.” he conceded adding: “I would have preferred him to stay here and play for Standard because he would make us better”.