Nabil Fekir's Life and Career Journey in Football "Fekir was also considered to be insecure and not too strong"

Nabil Fekir was born on July 18, 1993 in Decines, an area on the outskirts of Lyon, France. Fekir is the first child. His father, Mohamed, worked as an employee in an industrial factory, while his mother was a social worker.

Fekir has Algerian blood because his parents are immigrants from Algeria. Fekir grew up with his younger siblings: Tarik, Hamza, Yasin. The last name also acts as a football player.

All his brothers spent their early lives in the Jacques Monod District, an environment with a very thick Algerian culture. From an early age, Fekir had loved football. He was so happy with football that he even turned Ballon or Orange into a ball that he often played day and night.

Growing up, Fekir then often spent the night playing ball in a field in his village. His strong determination towards football made him join a local club in his area, AC Villeurbanne at the age of six.

Incidentally in the club there are also many Algerian children who play. After studying for one year, Fekir moved to FC Vaulx en Velin.

The club is a family-friendly club, which later made Fekir's father a vice president at the club. Even when playing there Fekir is like other players who have high aspirations of playing in big football academies like Olympique Lyon.

In 2003, Fekir finally decided to move from the suburbs of Lyon to another club closer to his dream of playing at Olimpique Lyon. He joined a modest club called SC Caluire, a better club that was able to bring him to develop his talent.

At the club, Fekir became the most prominent player among his colleagues. His manager at the time said that Fekir loved football more than anything, Fekir was a child who had a high desire to develop.

His manager also said that Fekir was a player with good individual speed and technique. At the age of 12, Fekir appeared in a youth championship where he was chosen as the best player.

Fekir's slick performance drew Olympique Lyon's talent scout and took him to the selection. His astounding appearance in the selection was finally able to attract Lyon's interest in recruiting him.

At the age of 12, Fekir officially joined the Lyon academy. Unfortunately Fekir failed to overcome the pressure at Olympique Lyon when he had to compete with the best players and face more formidable opponents.

Finally, at the age of 14 years right in 2008, Fekir was completely unable to cope with the pressure that occurred. Fekir was finally released by Lyon, the club has its own reasons, according to him Fekir has a small and weak body. besides that Fekir was also considered to be insecure and not too strong.

When his friends who also failed to make a career with the Lyon academy cried, Fekir was able to show his maturity by not crying.

Although he was disappointed, Fekir did not give up, he then strengthened FC Vaulx en Velin. At the club Fekir played for about three years before joining Saint Press at the age of 17.

Fekir went through his youth career with enthusiasm, strong determination and patience, even though he got insulted several times he did not give up easily.

In addition, Fekir is also a simple teenager. At the age of 17, he was reluctant to buy a cellphone even though he had the money to buy it. When you want to buy it he must report to his father first.

Young Fekir was able to show an impressive performance with Saint Press until he was able to attract the interest of French clubs. Even Olympique Lyon, the club who had sent him back approached him.

After thinking long and consulting with several parties. Nabil Fekir who really has a strong desire to play and achieve success with Lyon finally accepted Lyon's proposal.

Fekir had to fight first in the Lyon B team before in 2013 he entered the first team. He made his first-team debut on 28 August 2013 in a Champions League play-off match against Real Sociedad, in which his team had to swallow a 2-0 defeat.

Three days later Fekir made his Ligue 1 debut, playing the full 90 minutes when he lost 2-1 to Evian TG. While he scored his first competitive goal against Bastia in April 2014. In addition to the goal he also made two assists in a 4-1 win over Bastia.

His first season with Lyon was not very impressive, Fekir only scored 1 goal in 17 appearances in all competitions.

Fekir began performing regularly during the 2014/15 season. On March 19, 2015 he scored 11 goals and helped 7 in 25 2014/15 matches in Ligue 1, his neat performance earned him the national team call for the first time.

On May 17, 2015, he was named the Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year and won a place in the Team of the Year. He finished the Ligue 1 season with 13 goals and 9 assists.

On August 29, 2015, Fekir scored a hat trick in a 4-0 away win over Caen in Ligue 1. Unfortunately Fekir had to spend most of the 2015/16 season in the recovery room because he had a torn knee ligament injury. Noted he only appeared 9 times and scored 4 goals.

After recovering, Fekir returned and showed his sharpness in the 2016/17 season in which he scored a total of 14 goals from 49 matches in all competitions. On 27 September 2016 Fekir made his debut in the Champions League when dealing with Sevilla.

In early August 2017, after the departure of Maxime Gonalons to AS Roma, Fekir was appointed as club captain. Three months later, he scored two goals in a 5-0 away win at Ligue 1 against his fierce rivals AS Saint-Etienne.

His fifth season with Lyon was decorated with 23 goals from 39 matches in all competitions. Thanks to his brilliant performance, Fekir won a place in the French national team that competed in the world cup. In the tournament Fekir played 6 times and all of them were substitutes.

In the following season, the number of goals created by Fekir decreased, he was only able to break the opponent's goal as many as 12 times from 39 matches. Then in the summer of 2019 Fekir migrated to Real Betis at a cost of 28 million euros or around Rp 448 billion.

His competitive debut occurred against Real Valladolid in La Liga, in the next match Fekir scored against Barcelona.

In the international stage, Fekir made his debut on 26 March 2015 against Brazil. Unfortunately the game ended in a 1-3 defeat. After becoming part of Les Bleus who came out as champions of the 2018 world cup, until now Fekir has posted 22 caps and scored 2 goals.

During his career Fekir had twice failed to land at Anfield. First because of a knee injury. Secondly because Liverpool are considered inconsistent. By the summer of 2019, Liverpool and Fekir were again linked. At that time, Fekir even fired his agent to ensure his move from Lyon.

As mentioned earlier, Fekir is a person who lives in simplicity. Once upon a time, as a teenager Fekir had been given money by his mother for 60 euros to buy a new pair of shoes. Instead of buying one pair, Fekir actually bought two and continued to use them for economic reasons.

Even though Fekir had now become a rich man, he still continued that simple nature. For example, he considers Olympique Lyon's official car to be the only car he has and has no desire to buy a new car.

In his best times, the player who played the attacking midfielder was called the successor to the throne of Zinedine Zidane as the leader of the French national team. He also showed his ability as a leader while still in Lyon.

At the age of 26, Fekir is still able to develop the potential he has to become a great footballer.