Karim Rekik

Karim Rekik is a Dutch footballer who was born on 2 December 1994 in The Hague, Netherlands and plays as a centre back. He has a lot of experience in his bag despite a young age and is a skilled defender who can keep the strikers at bay.

Background

Rekik started his football journey in 1999 when he joined the SVV Scheveningen as a young kid and spent three years at the club before joining Feyenoord.

Rekik spent nine years at Feyenoord and grew into a skilled defender learning the elements of the centre back position. He was included in the Netherlands U16 team in 2009 and then in the U17 team in 2010.

He made 13 appearances for the U17 team while also scoring one goal and became the European U17 Champion in 2011.

In March 2011 Manchester City made a controversial approach for Rekik as he eventually signed with the Premier League club in July 2011. He made his debut for the club in September 2011 against Birmingham City and became the youngest overseas player to make his appearance in a senior game for city.

On 10 November 2011, Rekik made his debut for the Netherlands U19 team against Moldova U19 in an international friendly which the Dutch won by 3-0. He made 13 appearances for Netherlands U19 team while scoring one goal.

In June 2014, he was included in the Netherlands U21 team against Luxembourg U21 in the UEFA European U21 Championship qualification match which the Dutch won by 3-1. He made 15 appearances for the U21 team and scored one goal for them.

Debut

Rekik made his international debut for Netherlands in an international friendly against France 6 March 2014 which France won by 2-0at the Stade de France.

Club Career

After a couple of months with Manchester City, he was loaned over to Portsmouth FC and made 8 appearances for the club during the loan period.

In February 2013, he joined Blackburn Rovers for a brief period. He was then loaned over to PSV Eindhoven in July 2013 for the 2013-14 season. He was to join Manchester City in the next season but was not interested in returning unless he was given first team chances.

Rekik returned to PSV until the end of the season. He made 38 appearances for PSV in that season while scoring one goal. He became the Dutch Champion with PSV in 2014-15 season.

Rekik made 69 appearances for PSV while scoring two goals. In June 2015, he joined Olympique de Marseille and went on to make 48 appearances for the club while also scoring one goal and providing one assist.

In June 2017, Rekik signed with Hertha BSC and has since then made 26 appearances for Hertha while scoring two goals and providing four assists.