Wassim Keddari Boulif (Terrassa, 2005) is one of those footballers who is deceiving because of his age. He is only 17 years old, but on the pitch nobody would say that he is just a teenager. Because of his physique, 1.85 meters tall, but above all because despite being a forceful central defender, he plays with enormous poise, possesses great technical qualities and has an exquisite length of movement, as he has already had the opportunity to demonstrate throughout throughout this preseason.
Simo, as he is known in the world of football, is the great sensation of Espanyol in the concentration of Marbella. He was one of those chosen by Diego Martínez to complete the expedition, as he had few players in the first team, and from the first day the coach has valued him as one more. Not only that, in the last two games he has chosen him to start alongside Cabrera with a great performance. Speed, placement, criteria to get the ball played and a fantastic long movement have been his letter of introduction and the reasons for the coach to give him continuity. "He has a very high level and a very bright future," Sergi Gómez, the one sacrificed by Martínez to make room for Simo, said about him. For his part, Lele Cabrera highlights that "apart from his technical and physical qualities, the greatest is that he listens and applies".
The prominence of Keddari, of Algerian origin, does not surprise anyone in the blue and white club. He arrived as a youngster from Jabac Terrassa in 2016 and last season, at the age of 16, he played six games with the perico subsidiary, something that opened the doors for him to join the Spanish under-17 team coached by Julen Guerrero. With him he has been a fixture in the European Championship in which Spain fell in the quarterfinals last May and in the Algarve international tournament that they ended up winning in February 2022.
Many European greats have already set their eyes on him throughout the past season with visits to the Dani Jarque. And although Espanyol did their homework by renewing it until 2026, a review of its termination clause over the next few months is not ruled out. Now it is Diego Martínez who must manage the growth of a player whose potential should make him very important in the future. At the moment, his performance forces us to think of him as one more element of the first team this year.
