New Manchester United signing Sofyan Amrabat is the perfect Premier League midfielder

He has also admitted himself that he didn't have many friends growing up, so determined was he to realise his goal, and he's most definitely not one for succumbing to the trappings of a footballer's fame.

"Everybody likes the good life," he says, "but my only interest is football - I work every day for myself, for my career, to help my team, to help the club. Football for me is a way of life. It’s not just a matter of training and that’s it.

"I return home, I recover, I eat properly. Every day you’re asking the maximum from your body, so you have to prepare your body for that and recover. For me, it’s easy to make sacrifices because I know what I want."

And what Amrabat wanted after last year's World Cup was to play for one of Europe's biggest clubs. As far as he was concerned, he'd earned that opportunity and, in truth, it was difficult to disagree.

Amrabat was outstanding in Qatar, the tournament's best midfielder, the driving force behind Morocco's historic run to the semi-finals. Stationed just in front of the back four, Amrabat proved a one-man wall by repelling one opposition attack after another. No player at the World Cup won possession more times (57).

And it's not as if he was pitted against poor-quality opponents. Morocco kept clean sheets against Croatia, Spain and Portugal. In the shock win over the latter, he repeatedly nicked the ball before surging past would-be challengers with impressive ease and then releasing the likes of Achraf Hakimi and Hakim Ziyech.

His performance against Spain, though, was even more heroic - because Amrabat had barely slept the night before. He had been up until 3am receiving treatment on a back problem. Even at that, he had to take a pain-killing injection beforehand - and yet played all 120 minutes as Morocco prevailed on penalties.

"I’m not usually emotional," a tearful Amrabat said after the match, "but today was incredibly tough. There was a question mark over whether I could play this game. But I couldn't abandon my team-mates or my country."

Such a mix of quality and heroism was never going to go unnoticed and Amrabat’s agent started receiving calls from interested clubs before the World Cup had even concluded. A January transfer appeared inevitable, with Liverpool, Tottenham, Atletico Madrid and Barcelona all interested.

It was the latter who pushed hardest and Amrabat was enamoured with the idea of moving to Camp Nou. However, the cash-strapped Catalans only offered Fiorentina a loan deal with an option to buy - which meant Amrabat ended up staying at the Stadio Artemio Franchi.

He did not take the collapse of the proposed transfer well at all, with coach Vincenzo Italiano admitting that the 26-year-old had been “shaken up by what happened”. Amrabat apologised for his actions and was welcomed back into the Viola squad with open arms, but during his first few appearances after the close of the January transfer window, it was clear that he still wasn’t right, mentally.

It was only towards the business end of the season that Amrabat began to look like his old self on the field again, playing a key role in Fiorentina reaching the final of the Europa Conference League.

The heart-breaking nature of the undeserved loss to West Ham in Prague devastated Amrabat, who promptly posted a message on social media thanking the fans for their support - but the message also read like a goodbye letter.

It was clear that he still wanted out - and not just for any old club. “He wants to go to the top,” his brother, Nordin, told ESPN. "You are not going to trade Italy for the middle bracket of the Premier League. At Barcelona, he is high on the list, but you know Barca’s financial situation...”

Indeed, nothing had changed at Camp Nou from an economic perspective, which is why they ended up having to instead sign Oriol Romeu.

Consequently, Manchester emerged as Amrabat’s most likely destination, not least because he had played under United manager Erik ten Hag during the latter's time in charge of Utrecht.

Indeed, while eleventh-hour nature of the transfer may hint at an element of desperation on United's part, an apparent willingness to sign anyone that might help shore up their porous midfield, Ten Hag has, in reality, been targeting his former charge for some time.

It was really only United's economic restrictions that prevented the club from getting this deal done sooner. They may even have bought Amrabat outright had Harry Maguire, for example, agreed to leave earlier in the window.

So, it'll be very much a case of better late than never as far as the manager is concerned, because this is a player that can help United right away.

As he proved at the World Cup, Amrabat can be a force of nature in the right conditions. After joining Fiorentina, he struggled for a long time to play with the same ferocity and efficacy he had demonstrated at Verona, primarily because he was sometimes tasked with too many responsibilities, particularly from a playmaking perspective. However, when left to focus almost exclusively on winning and distributing the ball as quickly and simply as possible, Amrabat excels.

It is easy, then, to envisage him thriving at United, given the qualities and characteristics of the players that will be placed alongside him, as well as the pace and physicality of the Premier League.

In truth, he should revel in such an intense and often hostile environment. This is a guy who has previously admitted that he hated playing in empty stadiums during the pandemic because he was unable to feed off the hostility of opposition fans.

"I like the pressure," he said. "I like to play in full stadiums. I like it when the fans are whistling me. That's what I want - that’s why you do it."

And that's why he was so desperate to move to a top team. In that sense, United could not have signed a more motivated player. He hasn’t just been waiting for this opportunity since the World Cup. It goes way beyond that, all the way back to those "heavy days" in the Netherlands.

The hard work has paid off again. Amrabat has arrived at Old Trafford. Another dream has been realised.