Anwar El Ghazi: ‘I didn’t want to leave Villa but the manager didn’t want me’
It was on a trip back to England earlier this month when all the memories started flooding back for Anwar El Ghazi.
His new club, PSV Eindhoven, were taking on Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium and in the city that holds a special place in the Dutch winger’s heart.
Across London at Wembley, El Ghazi scored the first goal in Aston Villa’s 2-1 win over Derby County in the 2019 play-off final. A year later at West Ham United’s London Stadium, he was on the pitch as Villa survived on the final day of the season.
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“I really loved England,” he says. “I made some great friends and when I went back… when I was on English soil again in the Europa League, it was like I was back home.
“I miss it a lot and yes, I miss Villa, but I’m glad to be here (at PSV) now.”
Since moving back to the Netherlands, El Ghazi has been in and out of Ruud van Nistelrooy’s starting line-up for reasons we’ll get into shortly.
First, though, he’s keen to explain to The Athletic what went wrong last year when he was cast aside by former Villa manager Steven Gerrard before enduring a tough loan spell at Everton.
There are two sides to the attacker who burst onto the scene at Ajax in 2014, scored in the Champions League against Barcelona at Camp Nou, then moved to Lille where he played under Marcelo Bielsa and Christophe Galtier.
On the pitch, he’s determined, focused and sometimes fiery, yet off it, he needs affection, reassurance and belief from those he’s working under.
There’s no doubting El Ghazi’s quality. Jack Grealish once described him as the best finisher at Villa and his record of four goals in the last five games for PSV shows that another hot streak is developing.
After making only four appearances for Villa under Gerrard and two appearances at
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