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Amine Harit’s 11th-hour loan signing in OM’s summer window blitz was complicated because of financial pressures. Several players graciously gave up part of their salaries to free up the budget necessary to register the Moroccan international. After the first four months in the 2021/22 season, many were left wondering – what was the point? Reduced to a bit-part player, he only managed to notch one goal and one assist in that period. Not even a starring role in a 3-0 cup win at lowly Chauvigny helped.
The need for rotation afforded Harit a rare start in the game against Brest in early March, coming off the back of a busy run in the Europa Conference League. The winger duly repaid the faith with arguably his best performance in Olympien colours to that point, matching his season’s total output in 82 minutes. It wasn’t exactly a flash in the pan either, as he started the next away game, scoring again, and then picked up another goal and an assist at home to Montpellier and Nantes. From that run onwards, Marseille won six of seven games. Harit had scored three times and assisted twice and was starting to become a core part of Samapoli’s eleven – being called upon in crunch European second legs against PAOK and Feyenoord.
But that was quickly that. May saw Harit return to Schalke, with the Germans having no intention of keeping him. As Marseille, now under new coach Igor Tudor, focused their transfer efforts on other players, Harit endured a quiet summer. That was until president Pablo Longoria picked him up and agreed another season-long loan with an option to bring the popular winger back to the Velodrome, buoyed by his end-of-season form.
Four decent games – including two in the Champions League – did nothing for the lack of freshness that a proper pre-season would’ve afforded but October was different. A starring performance in the win-or-die Champions League clash against Sporting Lisbon was much praised and was followed by very satisfactory form as Tudor utilised the Moroccan as his key attacker behind Alexis Sánchez.
A cruel twist of fate was yet to come, however. In a mesmerising 2-3 win at Monaco before the World Cup, Harit suffered an ACL injury, putting paid to his hopes in Qatar. He eventually watched his team-mates’ stunning run from the treatment bed, before joining the squad – and his clubmates Matteo Guendouzi and Jordan Veretout at the Al Bayt Stadium for the France-Morocco semi-final. Happy scenes, no doubt, but a long road to recovery awaits in 2023.
Mohammed Ali | GFFN
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