Last summer, Leicester City let Bilal El Khannouss join VfB Stuttgart on a season-long loan deal.
The Morrocco international enjoyed a good run in the first few months with the Bundesliga side. He’s scored six goals and contributed four assists from 25 matches this season.
The player was part of the national team squad that lost the AFCON final to Senegal in January. Since this tournament, the Leicester City owned player has struggled with the German club, failing to score or assist in the last five matches.
At the weekend, the attacking midfielder started in Stuttgart’s 2-1 defeat to FC St. Pauli and Jamie Leweling replaced him after the break.
Bild have a report focusing on the 21-year-old’s recent performances and question ‘what’s wrong with him?’
El Khannouss recently admitted losing the AFCON final has been “tough” for him. It isn’t clear whether this is still impacting his performances for Stuttgart, but the dip in form has been noticeable.
Bild claim Stuttgart manager Sebastian Hoeneß made a ‘harsh move’ by replacing the Leicester City man against St. Pauli.
When Bild approached the coach to ask for an explanation, he didn’t hold back.
“I wasn’t satisfied with his performance. We felt we needed to inject some fresh impetus. That was the reason for the substitution,” he said.
The manager admitted he plans to hold talks with Moroccan to explain his decision.
“I didn’t explain it to him. That wasn’t necessary, and we’ll do it calmly,” Hoeneß explained.
Sport Witness recently covered a German report of Stuttgart’s conditional obligation to make El Khannouss’ stay permanent. There were very few hurdles to activate it, without specifying those hurdles or conditions.
