Mohamed Ihattaren is currently in Utrecht preparing for his next team. The chatter about a possible retirement due to mental health problems appears to be in the rearview mirror. The winger left Sampdoria to head back to his home country in late October and does not plan to return. Juventus will look to find him a new home in January, Calciomercato.com reports.
Ihattaren will soon change his agent, going from Mino Raiola to Ali Dursun. Feyenoord have shown some interest in adding him, Voetball Primeur reports. He will most likely join a Dutch side to stay close to his family.
Personal coach Jordy Best is currently helping the 19-year-old: “My job is to follow professional athletes to make them perform to the best of their capabilities physically and mentally. Ihattaren is practicing hard, and he is ready to express his full potential. He looked fine to me. I did not see big differences compared to a couple of years ago in terms of effort and attitude in training.”
Best did not answer when asked about the issues of the player: “I can not reply to that; it is something personal that he will have to address directly.” He did not think Ihattaren seriously contemplated stepping away from the game: “In my opinion, he never really considered quitting. My only advice for him is to do what he loves the most, which is playing football.” Juventus do not believe to be at fault but could compensate Sampdoria for the messy situation by loaning them another youngster.