The streets won't forget: Adel Taarabt - the greatest player in Championship history

Taarabt was born in Fez, a Moroccan city of just over one million people, but moved to France with his parents when he was still a child and was swiftly scooped up by Ligue 1 club Lens. Around the age of 15, Taarabt signed a youth contract with the tea, and spent two years playing for the club, although he would only make one senior appearance before being spirited away to England, when he joined Tottenham.

He had also impressed while playing for France’s age-group teams, as he was eligible for Les Bleus and Morocco. Per an interview with The Athletic in 2022, he stood out at youth level among an international crop that also featured the likes of ex-Manchester United midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin and former Tottenham star Moussa Sissoko.

A former scout at Arsenal, Damien Comolli wanted the Gunners to sign Taarabt, even advising Arsene Wenger to do so; it would have been a classic Arsenal signing, too, bringing in a young player with a huge upside. But Comolli made a transfer of his own to become director of football at Spurs, and brought with him his shortlist. Tottenham acted, signing Taarabt while Martin Jol was manager, but even the player himself says he left France too early, and that he should have had a “full season” at Lens.

Later, Taarabt reflected that he would have rather joined Arsenal, as he felt he could have won over Wenger.

It’s easy to see why the mercurial playmaker was so highly thought of. Even at this point in his career, has an elasticity to the way he controls the ball, but as a teenager, he also had feet so quick defenders would be left dizzy by marking him.

One famous clip of his time at Spurs shows Taarabt controlling the ball in a Premier League game against Derby County. Bringing the ball down, he takes three touches in quick succession: putting his foot on the ball, dragging it back, and finally, putting it through the legs of Craig Fagan. A replay from the reverse angle shows team-mate Anthony Gardner react by putting his hands on his head and turning away. A youngster shouldn’t be able to do that.

However, it is perhaps the sole highlight of Taarabt's time in north London, as he was limited to just 15 appearances for Spurs. The skill against Derby came during a 19-minute cameo, and he never started a Premier League game, as he was suddenly fighting with the likes of Dimitar Berbatov, Steed Malbranque (who scored a brace in that same 4-0 win) and Jermaine Jenas for minutes.

He would eventually depart in 2009, first joining QPR on loan, and then permanently thereafter, in a deal worth around £4m.

When the topic of the greatest seasons in Championship history is brought up, Taarabt's name is never too far away from the conversation. What he achieved during the 2010-11 campaign as QPR won the title was the stuff of legend, and has meant he has retained iconic status at the club ever since.

One particular strike from that campaign against Swansea City sums him up, both as a player, and as QPR's maestro; first, he completes a pass by rolling the ball back with his left foot and playing it with his right. He then runs around his marker and receives the ball again, nutmegs his closest opponent with a similar trick to the one he performed against Derby for Spurs, and shoots from 20 yards into the bottom corner. A devastating sequence of events, performed with genuine flair; that is what Taarabt was capable of when he was at it, as he so often was at Loftus Road in the second tier.

During a compilation of Taarabt’s best moments published by Sky Sports, then-QPR boss Neil Warnock credits the Moroccan dribbler with giving him “some of the best moments in my whole managerial career", though the no-nonsense coach had been warned that Taarabt “gets managers the sack” – per an interview on the Peter Crouch podcast – so he instituted a rule at QPR that if players were to pass the ball to him in their own half, they would be fined £50.

QPR won the Championship in 2010-11 with Taarabt as captain, as he scored 19 goals and laid on 21 assists in 44 games, leading to reports linking him with a move to Paris Saint-Germain. He chose to stay in England, but upon his return to the Premier League, he found life more difficult, and scored just twice while registering five assists in the following campaign.

While Taarabt's time with Warnock was undoubtedly a success - he was voted Championship Player of the Season when QPR were promoted - he was ironically overlooked for the club's own award. Goalkeeper Paddy Kenny claimed the prize instead, leading to a furious Taarabt storming out of the ceremony in front of his team-mates in an illustration of his combustible personality.

That attitude issue infamously came to the fore during the following the campaign, too, when Taarabt was substituted during QPR's 6-0 loss at Fulham. With the game still going on inside Craven Cottage, those outside the stadium spotted Taarabt in his club tracksuit waiting at a nearby bus stop, so keen was he to get away before the full-time.

"I just think the lads here know what Adel is. I don't think anybody else can be like that," Warnock said in the aftermath of the incident. "Adel is Adel and we'll accept what he is. Sometimes you don't realise what you've got until you lose it and you should be careful what you wish for... It will be very interesting to see where he is in five years. I have my own ideas. But he doesn't affect our spirit - it would do if it was only a Joe Bloggs. But all the group that have built up in the last 18 months accept him for what he is."

Warnock was eventually replaced by Harry Redknapp, but he and Taarabt rarely saw eye-to-eye. The playmaker was eventually loaned out to both Fulham and AC Milan, and he wanted to join the latter permanently, having played alongside Kaka and Robinho, but the two clubs were unable to agree on a deal.

Taarabt returned to QPR in the summer of 2014, but Redknapp was unimpressed with what he saw, as he claimed that the player was "three-stone overweight" and that he was "not fit to play football". "He played in a reserve game the other day and I could have run about more than he did! I can't pick him," the ex-Tottenham boss added.

Taarabt subsequently hit back, claiming he was being made a "scapegoat", but had to wait another year before finally leaving Loftus Road on a permanent basis to join Portuguese giants Benfica.

While Taarabt did eventually develop into a key player in Lisbons - making a total of 129 appearances for Benfica, a number only bettered by his time at QPR - his first few seasons were a struggle, as he once again failed to win over various managers, and it took him four years to make his league debut.

In the mean time, he largely played for the club's reserve side, while he also spent 18 month on loan at Serie A club Genoa. It was not until 2019 when the penny appeared to drop, and Taarabt actually commanded a regular spot in the Benfica team. However, it was not in the position in which he had made his name, as the silky, attacking midfielder began to be deployed as a No.6 in the Portuguese capital.

In his new role, Taarabt would go on to play at a stage befitting his potential: the Champions League. Indeed, he made nine appearances in the competition, including four starts, as Benfica reached the quarter-finals in 2019-20. However, unlike his younger years, he was far from the most eye-catching player on the pitch.

Despite his reinvention, Taarabt was released by Benfica in 2022 after a season in which he made just nine league starts, as he once again struggled to marry his brilliant ability with genuine consistency. His subsequent move to UAE has allowed him to keep embarrassing defenders, and he does so while wearing the captain's armband for Al-Nasr.

In 53 games for the club, he has scored 21 goals and laid on 12 assists, but as he approaches his 35th birthday, it feels like a tale of wasted talent that only now, in a talent-poor league, is Taarabt finally putting together similar performances to those that lit up Loftus Road and the Championship for QPR.

The streets will never forget that legendary campaign from the Moroccan maestro. What a shame, however, that his time at the top was so short-lived.