“Step by step to the top”
©IMAGO
Thiago Pitarch does not want to join the recent run of European talent to the Moroccan national team. The 18-year-old Real Madrid midfield talent confirmed his dream of La Roja to Spanish press representatives. The young professional with Moroccan roots, who was born in Fuenlabrada near Madrid, was most recently on the pitch for Spain’s U19s. Now he wants to slowly work his way into the A team.
“If I’m here, it’s because I want to get to the top. Step by step,” said Pitarch, who has started every game in Real’s first team in LaLiga and the Champions League since March. Its market value climbed from 3 million to 20 million euros in the middle of the month. “I’m living a dream, both in the club and in the national team,” said Pitarch. “I’ve been working towards this since I started. It’s my dream. I fought for it every day, in training, in every game. And now I’m fulfilling this dream.”
For the Moroccan association, it is an essential part of squad planning to convince talents active abroad who are eligible to play for Morocco at an early stage. Pitarch’s teammate Brahim Díaz (26), who was also born in Spain, achieved this. Recently, Morocco also received a number of commitments from the Netherlands and Belgium; from the 18-year-old PSV talents Benjamin Khaderi and Sami Bouhoudane, from Ayoub Ouarghi (18, Feyenoord) and Oualid Agougil (20, Utrecht) as well as from the Belgian-born Ajax professional Rayane Bounida (20) and KRC Genk’s young hope Saif Eddien Lazar (19).
Meanwhile, the teenager “doesn’t really like” the spotlight that Pitarch has recently found himself in as a Real professional and young national player. He and his family are humble. Pitarch stated: “It seems like I’m the star, but I just want to be one player among many. Not more important than my teammates. That’s how I see it.”
