PROFILE | Eliesse Ben Seghir – making up for lost time | OneFootball

Eliesse Ben Seghir has the aura of a player looking to make up for lost time. A hamstring injury saw him miss the start of last season and just as he was building up his fitness, he suffered a dislocated shoulder in an academy fixture. Those two injuries restricted him to just 14 appearances last season. A goal and an assist in the final game of that Ligue 1 campaign was, however, a sign of things to come.

Ben Seghir’s emergence under Philippe Clement led to doubts about Maghnes Akliouche’s capacity to breakthrough at the Principality club and inversely, Akliouche’s breakthrough, in the absence of the injured Ben Seghir saw questions arise about the Morocco international’s future place in the team. Especially with Champions League football on offer at the Stade Louis II, it is clear that they can co-exist and combine in what is an exciting and youthful attacking set-up at the Principality club.

With 11 goal contributions already, he is in line to have the most fruitful season of his young but promising career. A cheat code in congested central areas, Ben Seghir’s close control and eye for a pass naturally see him rank highly for shot-creating actions in Ligue 1 this season. But the young playmaker is also developing other aspects of his game.

Ben Seghir struggling with hectic calendar?

“This is the season I have defended the most,” he joked at the start of October. “Everyone knows he is a big talent. In the end, what we changed was his defensive work. He is working well getting back and it makes him another player, a more complete player,” added his manager, Adi Hutter.

“He has a rare profile and he has everything to have a great career,” says Hutter. This is Ben Seghir’s first season in which he has been involved from the start, and with that comes challenges, challenges that he acknowledges. “The difficult thing is being consistent,” says Ben Seghir, whose manager also revealed that the academy product has had to contend with fatigue within the densely-packed calendar.

But for now, neither are evident in his game. Instead, Ben Seghir is proving to be one of the most easy-on-the-eye and efficient playmakers in the division. Making up for lost time, he has already justified Les Monégasques’ decision to hand him a contract extension at the start of the year. That may fend off the sharks in 2025 but Ben Seghir looks like the next Monaco player destined for the elite.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle