Aymen Tahar's Football Odyssey From Sheffield United to Steaua Bucharest

Aymen Tahar (left) in action for Boavista at Benfica in January 2019. Photograph: Gualter Fatia/Getty Images
Aymen Tahar (left) in action for Boavista at Benfica in January 2019. Photograph: Gualter Fatia/Getty Images
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Aymen Tahar's Football Odyssey From Sheffield United to Steaua Bucharest

Aymen Tahar (left) in action for Boavista at Benfica in January 2019. Photograph: Gualter Fatia/Getty Images
Aymen Tahar (left) in action for Boavista at Benfica in January 2019. Photograph: Gualter Fatia/Getty Images

Aymen Tahar’s football journey across the globe has been impressive but it might never have happened but for a chance meeting with his former Sheffield United teammate, Kyle Walker.

The midfielder bumped into Walker after a year out of the professional game, having played alongside him in his one appearance for the Blades after graduating from the academy. Tahar was talked up by the then Tottenham defender to an agent friend, resulting in a trial and an epic adventure.

Tahar had been on numerous trials in search of a club after his release by United in 2010. There were so many foreign trips he cannot remember each of them but among them were Qarabag, Al-Nasr and Rizespor. After numerous rejections, Tahar played for a local non-league side, Staveley Miners Welfare, to stay fit and enjoy football while studying law and criminology at Sheffield Hallam University.

“I bumped into Kyle, whose friend Dom was starting to get into working as an agent and he told him: ‘This kid is good, can you help him find a club?’ He invited me to London for a trial game. I used to think they were a bit of a waste of time but my best friend, Kyle Naughton, was at Spurs at the time and he told me to go and that I could go stay with him. I went down and it was freezing; in the end the game got called off at half-time.”

Scouts had taken notice, though, and a couple of weeks later the phone rang with the offer of a trial at Gaz Metan Medias. The Romanian club, who had reached the Europa League qualifiers at the start of the season, offered Tahar a four-year deal after two days of training.

“It was a culture shock as I had never left home. The snow was so bad when I arrived, and I was just thinking: ‘What have I got myself into? Where have I come?’ I spent three years at Gaz Metan but the first three months were really difficult. I came home and didn’t know if I wanted to go back. After 10 days at home, I realised it wasn’t so bad, as they had given me my chance to play as a professional.

“I had a good six months after that, then a bad six months and thought I would never go back. I told them I wanted to leave and that I wanted to get a club back in England. The club said I had to return or they’d fine me €1,000 a day. I asked to go on free but the president convinced me to stay, he was really good with me.”

Staying proved more than worth it as Tahar earned a move to Romania’s biggest club, Steaua Bucharest, where he would play under their infamous owner Gigi Becali, well known for outlandish statements.

“It is unbelievable how big Steaua is an organisation,” Tahar says. “In comparative terms, they are bigger than Manchester United as probably 60% of the country support Steaua. All the away games would be sold out as everyone wanted to watch Steaua play. The big-name players, the Romania internationals, can’t go anywhere without it being mentioned. There is so much scrutiny in all the papers; if you go to the mall or a restaurant it will be there. I felt sorry for some of the bigger players as all the eyes were on them.”

The opportunity to play in the Champions League was too good to turn down, with Tahar rejecting more lucrative offers. In one of his first games for the club, he played against Partizan Belgrade in front of 30,000 animated Serbs. Steaua were dumped out of both European competitions before the group stages, as Tahar started to learn about Becali’s way of doing things.

“We lost to Rosenberg in the Europa League. I came on for the last 20 minutes with us 2-0 down, the supporters were on our back, nothing was going for us and we were just waiting for the whistle. Personally, I did not play well. After the match, Becali was speaking to the press, saying I had no place in the team, saying he was going to cut my wages by 50%, I was free to go and I’d never play for them again. It was a month into my dream move. I thought I’d been doing all right. He speaks for the sake of it, he couldn’t cut my wages. I spoke to the president and he said: ‘Don’t worry, that’s just Gigi.’”

Tahar says Becali visited the squad on another occasion when results were poor. “He was talking about how players were having too much sex and all this. I was thinking: ‘This guy can’t be the same as on TV.’ He is a passionate guy, but he does not realise how his statements affect his club.”

Tahar’s spell at Steaua was cut short. First he played for Boavista on loan, then signed for Sagan Tosu in the J-League, a spell during which he he had the chance to join the Serie A side Crotone, before returning to Gaz Metan.

“I don’t have regrets,” he says, though he did not play as often as he hoped and admits he underestimated the J-League’s strength. “Japan was great, it’s a completely different culture. The Japanese are the nicest people I’ve ever met.”

Tahar has since had a second spell with Boavista and is playing in the Greek Super League for Panaitolikos. The plan was never to spend his career abroad but Tahar, who spent pre-season with Barnsley in 2016, will be 31 in October and accepts he will almost certainly never play for an English professional club again.

Ederson and Iker Casillas are among the players he has faced on his travels and football has allowed Tahar to create a property portfolio to set him up for retirement. “Playing abroad has been great to me. You can do well financially and doing it against top players. I speak to friends in the lower leagues who are panicking about paying mortgages as their contracts are running out. People need to see that there’s more out there.”

The Guardian Sport



F1 on Jeddah’s Streets - Talking Points Ahead of the Saudi Arabian GP

 McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia walks through the paddock ahead of the Formula One Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP)
McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia walks through the paddock ahead of the Formula One Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP)
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F1 on Jeddah’s Streets - Talking Points Ahead of the Saudi Arabian GP

 McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia walks through the paddock ahead of the Formula One Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP)
McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia walks through the paddock ahead of the Formula One Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP)

This weekend's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is the final leg of the first "triple header" of the season.

From Suzuka in Japan, to the desert of Bahrain, Formula One now pitches up on the shores of the Red Sea in Jeddah.

AFP Sport looks at five talking points ahead of the fifth round of the 24-race season:

Advantage McLaren

Oscar Piastri put in a faultless display from pole last Sunday in Sakhir to make it three wins out of four for the British marque.

That moved the cool as ice Australian to within three points of championship leader and teammate Lando Norris, who took third in Bahrain.

With Max Verstappen, only sixth, and Red Bull struggling to keep tabs on the world constructors' champions, the 2025 title could well develop into a battle between the two McLaren men.

The team has always been insistent on "papaya rules", theoretically meaning no favoritism between the pair, but that even-handed policy will be put under intense pressure if the season develops into a battle between the two gifted drivers.

Looking ahead to Sunday's race Norris commented: "It's a really fast track and we have a quick car, so we'll be aiming to finish this triple-header strongly."

Red Bull to bounce back?

Red Bull's problems in Bahrain were well documented, and they will be desperate to bounce back on one of their favorite hunting grounds, with Max Verstappen winning in Jeddah in 2022 and 2024.

"Bahrain was quite a difficult weekend for us and didn't really go our way at all. We had some issues that set us back and we still have a lot of work to do on the car to get us where we need to be," said the four-time champion.

He slipped to third in the standings, eight points behind Norris, after trailing in over half a minute behind Piastri in Sakhir.

"We have a final push with this being the third race and final weekend of the triple header so hopefully we can find more pace and bring out a performance similar to Japan (his only win of the season)," he added.

The circuit

Sunday's race presents a radically different test for car and driver than last week in Bahrain. The fastest street circuit on the calendar offers multiple chances for overtaking, in stark contrast to the most famous street circuit of them all, Monaco.

With a record 27 corners and three DRS (drag reduction system) zones it can be counted on to serve up plenty of drama, with the walled sides leaving little room for error.

All the ingredients then for a thrilling race under floodlights on Jeddah's Corniche.

Golf in the Gulf for Gasly

Alpine finally got off the ground in Bahrain, with Pierre Gasly picking up their first points of the season in seventh.

"It's great to leave Bahrain with points on the board after three challenging races at the start of the season," reflected the French driver.

He celebrated his bold show by following Rory McIlroy's emotional Masters triumph at Augusta.

"I really enjoyed staying up late to watch the end of the Masters and I'm delighted for Rory McIlroy, one of our investors, to finally secure the green jacket. Congratulations to him!"

Toto praise for Russell

George Russell will be hoping to concentrate on the job he's paid to do -- driving -- rather than as a part-time electrician. The Briton, enjoying his best ever start to a season, took second last Sunday despite a myriad of issues he had to contend with in the cockpit in the closing stages.

"It was a superb drive from him under extreme pressure," marveled Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff.

Russell's teammate Kimi Antonelli did not enjoy the rub of the green and finished out of the points for the first time in his debut season.

"It has been easy to forget that Kimi is in the very earliest stages of his F1 career given his performances so far. Bahrain will prove an important milestone in his continued development," Wolff remarked.