Seddouk El Hadj (Newcastle United)

[TonyStarks]

Algerian Starlet Heads To Tyneside

ALGERIAN prospect El Hadj Sadouk is heading to Tyneside after winning a 'Pop Idol'-type series involving more than 8,000 youngsters. Sadouk, 18, was crowned the winner of the show on Sunday night when the Soccastars series reached it's climax in Cairo, Egypt after a summer of trials and practice matches. Youth Development Officer Peter Kirkley and Academy Coach Peter Beardsley were involved in the final judging, and the former United striker admits Sadouk had a talent which caught the eye.

Beardsley told nufc.co.uk: "It was a pleasure for myself and Peter Kirkley to be involved in the competition.

"Peter flew out before me and briefed me on what I could expect when I took the trials on Saturday and Sunday, so that was a big help to me.

"On Saturday we had a general training session and practice match, with a variety of one touch and two touch drills and a shooting practice.

"We then whittled the entrants down to four on the Sunday, and it was a lot more intense then.

"We chose the final four, then the overall winner, and we are confident we made the right choice.

"Sadouk stood out from the moment we saw him. He has a bit of everything, the brain, the vision and the overall ability. He has great technical ability, and he plays with a smile on his face.

"He reminded me a lot of Nobby Solano. He's never played football properly before, he's always been involved in street football.

"He wins a full year with the Academy at Newcastle, and the organisers also gave him a car.

"The two lads who came second and third, Mohamed Gabbas and Abdel Rahman Bokhari will also come over to Newcastle.

"They weren't aware of that when we revealed the winner, so it was nice to see their reaction when they were told the news.

"The good thing for Peter and I was the fact that the series went out on TV, and they had a phone vote for the viewers to choose their top four.

"The top four chosen by the viewers matched our top four, so we were happy with that.

"We'll look forward to seeing them when they get to Tyneside and we'll see how they get on in the Academy."

Source: http://www.nufc.co.uk (Official Newcastle Website)

[TonyStarks]

Pictures of Seddouk

Holding up his Newcastle jersey:


In his brand new Toyota 4X4:


Alongside the 2nd and 3rd place winners (Seddouk wrapped in the Algerian flag):

[TonyStarks]

By the way, this is just a followup to this topic:

http://www.algeria.com/forums/showth...?threadid=9314

[La-Casbah_com]

was it an algerian competition or all arab countries?

[TonyStarks]

It was for all Arab countries from Morocco to Iraq (and in between).

[Lotfi-dz]

so is he going to play for Newcastle united for 1 season?

[TonyStarks]

Originally posted by Lotfi-dz
so is he going to play for Newcastle united for 1 season?

He's going to play for their Academy team.