Mounir El Hamdaoui

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Mounir El Hamdaoui (born July 14, 1984 in Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland) is a Dutch-Moroccan footballer who plays as a forward for Willem II in the Netherlands.

He signed a three and a half year contract with Tottenham Hotspur and moved from Excelsior Rotterdam in January 2005. He never made his debut in the Premiership but featured in the Peace Cup in July 2005 in which Tottenham lifted the trophy following a 3-1 win against Olympique Lyonnais. He also scored 2 goals on his debut in a friendly against Northampton Town and scored against Aldershot Town on his first team debut in another friendly.

In September 2005 he joined Derby County on loan appearing 6 times, scoring 2 goals before a dislocated shoulder forced the loan to be cut short and he returned to Spurs. Derby continued to monitor his progress and in January 2006 he returned to Pride Park for another loan spell. Unfortunately, this too was to be disrupted due to injury, a groin problem forcing him to return to Tottenham in early March. This second loan deal was not cancelled, but after returning to duty with Derby in April, a further injury problem may have prematurely ended his season.

In June 2006, El-Hamdaoui moved back to his native Netherlands to play for Willem II, due to a lack of opportunities at Spurs. After an impressive start, scoring three goals in four matches he again suffered an injury, which will avoid him playing for at least six months.^[1]

Although being born in the Netherlands and having played for their Under-21 side he has pledged his international future to Morocco and is currently awaiting his first full international cap.

In a recent(6 November 06) interview with Dutch football magazine Voetbal International, El Hamdaoui revealed that he indeed in the past made the decision to play for the Moroccan national side but due to the fact that he felt used by the Moroccan FA he has now decided that he is available for the Dutch national team.