| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Nabil El Zhar | ||
| Date of birth | 27 August 1986 | ||
| Place of birth | Alès, France | ||
| Height | 1.71 m (5 ft 7 in) | ||
| Playing position | Second Striker | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Levante | ||
| Number | 25 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1996–1999 | Alès | ||
| 1999–2004 | Nîmes | ||
| 2004–2006 | Saint-Étienne | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2006–2011 | Liverpool | 21 | (0) |
| 2010–2011 | → PAOK (loan) | 12 | (3) |
| 2011– | Levante | 7 | (0) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2004–2006 | Morocco U20 | 7 | (1) |
| 2008– | Morocco | 9 | (2) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21 December 2011. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Nabil El Zhar (Arabic: نبيل الزهر; born 27 August 1986) is a French-born Moroccan footballer and currently plays for Levante. He also has eight caps for Morocco. El Zhar is known for his pace and dribbling ability[1]
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El Zhar began his football career with OAC Alès, a local youth team. From there he moved to Nîmes Olympique, then switched again to AS Saint-Étienne.
He signed for Liverpool in October 2006 and made his debut for their reserve team against Newcastle in a reserves match on 3 October 2006.[2] He scored his first goal, from the penalty spot, in a reserve 'mini-derby' against Everton on 10 October 2006.
El Zhar made his first team debut on 29 November 2006, coming on as a substitute against Portsmouth. He went on to make two more appearances in the 2006–07 season.[2]
He made his first Liverpool start in a Carling Cup tie against Cardiff City on 31 October 2007, in which he scored his first goal for the club.[3] El Zhar was moved from the number 42 shirt to the number 31 shirt for the start of the 2008–2009 campaign.[4]
El Zhar became part of the regular first-team squad in the 2008–09 season appearing in a 1–0 win against Sunderland and making his first assist on 18 October 2008, coming on for Andrea Dossena with Liverpool 1–2 down against Wigan Athletic. He set up Albert Riera for the equaliser and the game finished 3–2 to Liverpool. On 27 February 2009, He made his first start for Liverpool in the Premier League against Middlesbrough in which Liverpool lost 2–0. In this season El Zhar was affected by injuries restricting him to just a handful of outings as a substitute, usually coming off the bench to stretch opposition defences in the closing stages of a game.[1]
On 11 July 2009, he signed a new contract extension to his current Liverpool contract that would have kept him at Anfield until 2012.[5]
On 31 August 2010, El-Zhar completed a loan switch to Greek side PAOK F.C. and was handed the number 7 shirt on his arrival. The deal expired on the 3 June 2011. El-Zhar made his debut for the club on the 16th of September in a 1–1 UEFA Europa League group game against FC Bruges. He subsequently played in PAOK's last 5 group games;the 1–0 win against Dinamo Zagreb, the 1–0 defeat to Villareal, the 1–0 win against Villareal, the 1–1 draw with FC Bruges and the 1–0 win against Dynamo Zagreb. He later returned to Liverpool.
On the 18th August 2011, Liverpool announced that El-Zhar had been released from his contract[6] and that he was expected to complete a move to Spanish side Levante UD where he will sign a contract that will keep him at Estadi Ciutat de València for 2 years.[7]
Although born in Alès, France, El Zhar chose to play internationally for the country of his parents, Morocco. However he did represent France at youth level. El Zhar played in the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship, and Morocco got to the semi-finals, where they were defeated 3–0 by Nigeria. Morocco ended the tournament in fourth place after a 2–1 loss to Brazil.[8]
On the 26 March 2008, El Zhar scored for Morocco in a 4–1 away win against Belgium in his first international appearance.
| Premier League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Club | Season | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals |
| Liverpool (Premier League) |
2006–07 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 2007–08 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | |
| 2008–09 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 19 | 0 | |
| 2009–10 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 0 | |
| Liverpool total | 21 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 32 | 1 | |
| Career totals | 21 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 32 | 1 | |
| Correct as of 15 December 2009[9] | |||||||||||
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