El Fitouri comes highly recommended by the class of '92
Chesterfield's new Libyan international signing Sadiq El Fitouri has a remarkable story for a player aged just 22, from playing on the park to being recommended to Manchester United by the class of 92.
We document his incredible journey.
“I thought: ‘Wow, this boy can run!’,” Phil Neville told the Manchester Evening News
“I was even more surprised when he told us his background story. After being released by City he’d fallen out of love with football until contacting us.”
“Then we had a practice game, 11v11,”
“It was absolutely freezing. Sadiq went down the wing, went past a player like Cruyff then stroked the ball into midfield. I’d been drawn to him since that bleep test but the more we watched him in training, the more I thought: ‘He’s a player’. After four times I thought: ‘This lad is definitely a player’.”
“We both said he had to play,” “Within 35 minutes we’d both seen enough for him to show us that he was far too good for this level.”
“We both decided that the best judge of young talent and ability was Warren Joyce at Manchester United,”
El Fitouri revealed to ManUtd.com "I was out of action for a year and a half after I left City because I was injured and couldn't get a club. It was the worst time to get injured, straight after being released.
"I was injured for four months but after that I just carried on training in the gym. I had to do it all myself but I sort of knew what to do from the time I had an injury at City.
"After 18 months without playing, I was starting to lose hope. But in December [2014], I phoned up Salford City and asked if I could train with them. They said 'Yes, come down' and I trained there for one month and played one game.
"Phil Neville was impressed and Paul Scholes too so they pulled me over to one side and said I could go to training at United the next day. Everyone knows who Neville and Scholes are and for them to have belief in me was really good.
"My trial at United lasted for a week and a half. During the first week, I remember I played an in-house game against Leicester. Warren was impressed and, a few days later, he said: 'Well done, I'd like to offer you a contract'. I thought it was all a dream as it happened so quickly."
“We both said he had to play,” “Within 35 minutes we’d both seen enough for him to show us that he was far too good for this level.”
“We both decided that the best judge of young talent and ability was Warren Joyce at Manchester United,”
“I rang Joycey who told us to bring him down. Sadiq trained well over a week and did well enough to earn a contract.”
El Fitouri story was played out on BBC TV documentary 'Out of their league' a documentary about non-league club side Salford City, the club that is co-owned by 'class of '92' stars Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, Phil Neville and Paul Scholes. (14:10 of the video)
El Fitouri revealed to ManUtd.com "I was out of action for a year and a half after I left City because I was injured and couldn't get a club. It was the worst time to get injured, straight after being released.
"I was injured for four months but after that I just carried on training in the gym. I had to do it all myself but I sort of knew what to do from the time I had an injury at City.
"After 18 months without playing, I was starting to lose hope. But in December [2014], I phoned up Salford City and asked if I could train with them. They said 'Yes, come down' and I trained there for one month and played one game.
"Phil Neville was impressed and Paul Scholes too so they pulled me over to one side and said I could go to training at United the next day. Everyone knows who Neville and Scholes are and for them to have belief in me was really good.
"My trial at United lasted for a week and a half. During the first week, I remember I played an in-house game against Leicester. Warren was impressed and, a few days later, he said: 'Well done, I'd like to offer you a contract'. I thought it was all a dream as it happened so quickly."
Gary Neville appeared on Sky Sports News HQ and explained how "a lot disappear out of the game when they have got the talent" and documented El Fitouri's rise. (2:10)
Now El Fitouri will get his chance at the level Gary Neville hoped he could be playing at, lets hope he lives up to his high recommendation.
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