Chemsdine Talbi moves at pace. Faster, according to the speed guns in use at Uefa Champions League matches this season, than Vinicius Junior of Real Madrid or Bayern Munich's Alphonso Davies, to cite a pair of the game’s most celebrated speedsters.
Among the five elite footballers who have registered speeds above 36km/h are those you would expect to see at the top of the list: Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, Achraf Hakimi.
The young winger Talbi comes into rankings just behind them, sixth most rapid of any player across the 36 clubs involved in the elite competition since September. And Talbi is only 19. He’ll be likely be moving even faster in the years to come.
Some of these jet-heeled runs have been key to moving Talbi’s club, Brugge, further than at any time this century in the Champions League, and although the 3-1 deficit they take into Wednesday’s second leg of their last-16 tie at Aston Villa looks a steep hurdle to overcome, they’re a side capable of another upstart ambush.
They defeated Villa in the league phase and were holding them at 1-1 until into the last ten minutes of last week’s first leg. They defied expectation in the previous round, too, a coming-of-age 180 minutes for the teenaged Talbi.
Up against fancied Atalanta, he had the presence of mind – and the burst of acceleration – to steal possession and send in the low cross that gave Brugge their early advantage in the tie.
Come the second leg, in Italy, he had the poise to take stock and tee up the shot that increased the aggregate lead to 3-1. Talbi’s second goal that night, pouncing on a ricochet, made it 4-1 on the way to a 5-2 victory across the two legs. He was named man of the match.
There’s a strong expectation that by the end of this week, the revelation player of the Champions League’s knockouts will receive his first senior international call-up.
Talbi has moved fast to this threshold, too. He is a dual national, who has been capped at various age-group levels for his native Belgium, but he last week committed his future to Morocco.
The country of his paternal heritage persuaded Talbi that for all the competition for places in the Atlas Lions’ set-up from talents in his position, his international career looked brighter if viewed from North Africa.
The large Moroccan diaspora in Belgium includes several footballers who have made the same decision.
The PSV Eindhoven forward Ismael Saibari, born in Spain but brought up in Belgium, felt drawn to represent Morocco, land of his parents, from a very young age.
Leicester City’s Bilal El Khannouss and Anass Zaroury, of Lens, both represented Belgium at youth level, and found themselves at the centre of a tug-of-war in the lead up to the last World Cup finals.
They opted to go to Qatar 2022 with Morocco in spite of urgent Belgian lobbying for them to commit to their country of birth. Morocco then beat Belgium in the tournament on the way to reaching a historic semi-final.
Talbi has been strongly courted by the Belgians. According to Vincent Mannaert, the new technical director of the Belgian Federation and formerly an executive at Brugge, “we tried as best we could to present the case for Belgium, but it was hard to change his mind”.
Talbi, it is understood, felt especially prized by the Morocco Federation when, last season, his upwards career trajectory was interrupted by a serious ligament injury.
The concern and contact from Morocco during his six month layoff was far more conspicuous than any from the Belgian Federation.
The rest of the argument was straightforward: Morocco is an exciting project to be part of. They will host the Africa Cup of Nations in December, and co-host the 2030 World Cup, by when Talbi will have just turned 25.
His challenge between now and then will be to make one of the wing positions in the starting XI his own.
Morocco manager Walid Regragui has numerous options for the wide attacking roles, from the precocious – Eliesse Ben Seghir of Monaco or Villarreal’s Ilias Akhomach – to the medalled – Bayer Leverkusen’s Bundesliga champion Amine Adli – and the proven, like Real Betis’s Abde Ezzalzouli, Zakaria Aboukhlal at Toulouse and Osame Sahraoui at Lille.
All of those players are of an age to be targeting a major role at the next three World Cups. That would not be the case for, say, Hakim Ziyech, the masterly passer from the right of midfield for Morocco through his 64 caps. He turns 32 next week and is at a crossroads.
Following a meeting with Regragui in Qatar, Ziyech’s new base after joining Al Duhail from Galatasaray in January, he is likely to be rested from the squad Regragui names on Friday to play Niger and Tanzania in the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers.
This is so that Ziyech can focus on regaining fitness and form: He played little football for Galatasaray through December and January.
Ziyech’s creative responsibilities for Morocco are now more easily shared than they were two and half years ago, when Regragui persuaded the former Ajax and Chelsea player to reverse an international ‘retirement’, provoked by the player’s falling out with predecessor coach Vahid Halilhodzic.
Brahim Diaz, of Real Madrid, has become a leader of the attack. Brahim was a year ago persuaded to opt for Morocco ahead of his native Spain, and his start to his Atlas Lions career has been stunning: seven goals and two assists operating from just behind the forward line in six competitive internationals.
France-born Ben Seghir, 20, has also taken to senior international football with relish. Since his first call-up last March he has scored three goals and set up another two.
If Talbi were to hit the ground running even half as fast, it would be in keeping with his rapid climbing trajectory.
A year ago, he had never played a senior match in a Uefa competition. He’s now the principal reason Brugge are still in the hunt for a spot in the Champions League’s last eight.
“An undeniable talent,” said his Brugge teammate Brandon Mechele, “and he’s an excellent team player besides all his ability in taking on opponents, one-on-one. And of course there’s his speed.”
“His speed is phenomenal,” added Simon Mignolet, the Brugge and Belgium goalkeeper. “It’s his best asset. But he plays with commitment to the other parts of his game as a winger, which is vital, and he’s a hard worker. You see it when he practices.”
