Taarabt: Modric "said I was good enough for Real Madrid"
The Morocco midfielder was tipped for the very top but admits his own mistakes cost him the chance to play for one of Europe's elite clubs.
Adel Taarabt was considered one of the brightest prospects of his generation when he burst onto the scene at Lens and the Tottenham Hotspur but the 30-year-old Morocco midfielder never quite made the step up to Europe’s elite, despite claiming that he was told he was good enough to play for one of the heavyweights.
“I don’t like to say these things about myself but a lot of people said after watching me play when I was younger that I was good enough to play for Real Madrid or Barcelona,” Taaarabt, currently at Benfica, said during an interview with FourFourTwo magazine. “Even Luka Modric told me the same thing once.”
Taarabt: "It's entirely my fault"
Taarabt only really found continuity during a six-season spell at Queen’s Park Rangers and has played for Milan, Fulham and Genoa during a career spent largely on loan or on the sidelines due to a chronic back problem; One of the greatest talents ever to play for Morocco has only managed 19 caps in a decade.
“It’s nobody else’s fault,” Taarabt continued. “It’s entirely my fault.”