A Profile of Aymen Tahar – A new adventure

Aymen TaharAymen Tahar has started his new life in Romania after signing for Premier League side, CS Gaz Metan Medias in February.

The move to the Romanian side was an interesting one, the 22-year-old Algerian said: “It all happened very quickly. It came about after Walks [Kyle Walker] had a word with a friend of his, who is an agent.”

The agent suggested that Tahar took part in a game, which featured two sides made up of players in the similar situation to him. The idea was that there would be scouts from different clubs in England who were going to attend.

The youngster said: “I played in this game and did well and there was some interest from clubs in League One and League Two, but nothing really happened.”

But, then his life changed when the agent contacted him about the opportunity in Romania. He explained that it was a good chance, and that they had been in the Europa Cup this season [2011/12].

The next step was to fly out to Turkey where the club were on a training camp, after impressing he is now pleased to be back playing at a good standard.

Life in Romania

So far Tahar has settled into life in Romania, but admitted: “It’s different to life back home, but we’ve been very busy with football so that’s made it easier.”

Like any move to new country, there have been issues: “The hardest thing is leaving family and friends, you go from seeing them every day to not seeing them at all.

But admitted: “This is my job and I think it will be a fantastic opportunity for me.”

Tahar has already seen some key differences with England: “You have more time on the ball here and teams like to build up more from the back.

Before adding: “The tempo of the game in England is so quick and defenders are closed down as soon as they touch the ball which forces a lot of teams to go direct.”

So far Tahar been impressed with his new boss, Cristian Pustai’s coaching methods, especially as they work a lot with the ball and he is learning new exercises.

Whilst there is a language barrier, there are players in the squad who speak English and help the youngster if he is unsure what the coach wants him to do.

Break from the game

The young Algerian started his career with Sheffield United after being a ‘Football Unites, Racism Divides’ trainee.

After being recommended by head coach Luis Silva, he impressed during a six-week assessment and got his chance with SUFC Academy U15s.

Whilst Tahar managed to feature in the first-team, the move did not work out and he found himself without a club.

He had a few trials with different clubs and almost signed for a club in Greece but that never happened so he ended up signing for Staveley FC as a semi-pro player.

He said: “They had an ambitious owner who wants the club to climb up the ladder.”

Tahar added: “At the same time I enrolled at Uni as I felt I couldn’t just keep my hopes on getting a contract.”

Being away from the game was very hard for Tahar, he worked as hard as he could to get into the Sheffield United first team.

He admitted: “It wasn’t to be, football is all I’ve ever wanted to do so when you your friends are doing well and playing you’re happy for them but you also feel frustrated.”

Aims

Tahar’s first plan is to work hard, play regularly and show that he is good enough to play at a good standard.

The side finished seventh last season and got into the Europa League but he knows it will be difficult to emulate that success: “There are many good teams but if we start well then anything is possible.”

Last season’s top scorer Eric Pereira joined Karpaty Lviv, but the Ex-Blade believes the club has some good strikers and hopefully he will ‘chip in with a few goals’.

He has been given squad number 22, and still has international aspirations, but admits: “I just want to play regularly for the team, if I get a call up then I would be delighted but for now I’m going to focus on doing the best for my team.”

This interview was arranged by Tahar’s representative Simon Dent of WWW.SJDENTMGT.COM (ROAR Global Sports Limited).

By Scott Balaam

Twitter @scottbalaam