Saïd Benrahma

Saïd Benrahma
Benrahma playing for Algeria in 2024
Personal information
Full name Mohamed Saïd Benrahma[1]
Date of birth (1995-08-10) 10 August 1995 (age 29)
Place of birth Aïn Témouchent, Algeria
Height 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)[2]
Position(s) Left winger, attacking midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Lyon
Youth career
2004–2006 NRB Bethioua
2010–2011 Balma
2011–2013 Colomiers
2013 Nice
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2013–2016 Nice II 37 (11)
2013–2018 Nice 17 (3)
2016 → Angers (loan) 12 (1)
2016 → Angers II (loan) 3 (1)
2017 → Gazélec (loan) 15 (3)
2017–2018 → Châteauroux (loan) 31 (9)
2018–2021 Brentford 83 (27)
2020–2021 → West Ham United (loan) 30 (1)
2021–2024 West Ham United 80 (14)
2024 → Lyon (loan) 12 (3)
2024– Lyon 10 (1)
International career‡
2015– Algeria 34 (4)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 23:12, 15 December 2024 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 23:00, 17 November 2024 (UTC)

Mohamed Saïd Benrahma (Arabic: محمد سعيد بن رحمة; born 10 August 1995) is an Algerian professional footballer who plays as a left winger for Ligue 1 club Lyon and the Algeria national team.

Benrahma began his professional career with Nice, later spending time on loan with Angers, Gazélec and Châteauroux during his early career. He came to prominence in the EFL Championship after a move to Brentford in 2018, scoring 27 goals in 83 appearances for the West London outfit before moving to the Premier League with West Ham United. In June 2024, Lyon exercised their purchase option and signed him on a permanent basis following a successful loan spell.

Club career

Nice

A winger, Benrahma began his youth career with Algerian club NRB Bethioua,[3] before moving to France and joining Balma, Colomiers and then Ligue 1 club Nice in 2013.[4] He made his professional debut under manager Claude Puel during the 2013–14 season,[5][6] but played most of his football for the club with the reserve team, for whom he made 37 appearances and scored 11 goals between 2013 and 2016.[7] Benrahma scored one goal in his three first team appearances during the 2014–15 season and scored a further two in 2015–16.[8][9]

Ankle injuries and the arrival of manager Lucien Favre led to Benrahma spending a large portion of his latter career with the club away on loan, at Ligue 1 club Angers and Ligue 2 clubs Gazélec and Châteauroux.[5] Benrahma departed the Stade de Nice in July 2018,[10] having made 18 appearances and scored three goals during his time with the club.[7]

Brentford

On 6 July 2018, Benrahma moved to England to join Championship club Brentford on a four-year contract, with the option of a further year, for an undisclosed fee,[11] reported to be £2.7 million.[5] He scored his first goal for the club on his third appearance, in a 4–2 EFL Cup first round victory over Southend United on 14 August 2018.[12] Six weeks later, Benrahma was sent off for the first time in his Bees career after committing two bookable offences during a 2–2 draw with Reading on 29 September.[12] After returning from injury in December,[13] Benrahma broke into the starting lineup and came into form in mid-January 2019, scoring nine goals in 14 league matches.[14] He was nominated for the January and February PFA Fans' Player of the Month awards and one of his three goals in a 5–1 win over Hull City was chosen as the Championship Goal of the Month for February and as Brentford's Goal of the Season.[15][16][17][18] An ankle injury suffered in early April 2019 ended Benrahma's season,[19] by which time he had made 45 appearances and scored 11 goals.[12]

Benrahma missed Brentford's entire 2019–20 pre-season match programme and returned to competitive play in mid-August 2019,[20] before breaking back into the starting lineup late in the month.[7] During a 2019–20 season in which his performances led to him being voted the Brentford Supporters' Player of the Year and named in the Championship PFA Team of the Year,[21][22] Benrahma made 46 appearances and scored 17 goals, which included two hat-tricks.[23] His performances during Brentford's run to the 2020 Championship play-off final saw him win the January 2020 PFA Fans' Player of the Month and the July 2020 Championship Player of the Month awards.[24][25][26] In addition, he was nominated for the 2020 London Football Awards EFL Player of the Year award and the 2019–20 PFA Fans' Championship Player of the Year award.[27][28]

After a second consecutive pre-season of transfer speculation,[29][30] Benrahma was left out of head coach Thomas Frank's matchday squads early in the 2020–21 regular season,[7] before making his first appearance of the season as a substitute for Sergi Canós after 73 minutes of a 1–1 draw with Millwall on 26 September 2020.[31] He started the following match versus West London rivals Fulham in the EFL Cup and his performance and second goal in the 3–0 fourth round victory was recognised with the man of the match and Goal of the Round awards respectively.[32][33]

West Ham United

On 16 October 2020, Benrahma joined Premier League club West Ham United on an initial season-long loan deal, with an agreement to make the transfer permanent.[34] On 31 October, he came off the bench and made his debut in a 2–1 loss against Liverpool in a league fixture.[35] He was named in the starting 11 for the first time in a 2–1 win over Leeds United on 11 December.[36][37]

On 29 January 2021, the loan deal was terminated early as West Ham signed Benrahma on a permanent contract in order to free up a domestic loan space for the incoming Jesse Lingard.[38] The club agreed to pay £25 million plus £5 million in add-ons. The transfer fee made Benrahma West Ham's third most expensive player behind Sébastien Haller and Felipe Anderson.[39][40] On 15 May 2021, Benrahma scored his first goal for West Ham in a 1–1 away league draw against Brighton & Hove Albion.[41]

On 6 November 2022, he scored a goal in a 2–1 defeat against Crystal Palace which was measured as the most powerful Premier League goal of the season, with an average speed of 107.17 kilometres per hour (66.59 mph).[42] On 7 June 2023, during the 2023 UEFA Europa Conference League final, Benrahma scored West Ham's opening goal, a penalty, in the 62nd minute, against Fiorentina. West Ham won their first trophy in 43 years with a 2–1 victory.[43]

On 1 February 2024, West Ham agreed terms to transfer Benrahma to Ligue 1 club, Lyon. The move initially fell through just before the closing of the transfer window as West Ham failed to transfer the necessary papers to the Premier League leading to Lyon accusing West Ham of "demonstrating a profound lack of respect on the part of West Ham towards the institution and the player."[44] However, after an appeal from Lyon that FIFA accepted, the deal went through and was officially announced the next day.[45]

Lyon

On 2 February 2024, Benrahma joined Lyon on loan until the end of the season. The club paid £5.1 million for the loan, with a purchase option of £12.3 million and a 10% interest in the capital gain in the event of a potential future transfer.[46] He completed a permanent transfer to the club, for an undisclosed fee, in June 2024.[47]

International career

In September 2015, Benrahma was called up to the Algeria national team for friendly matches against Guinea and Senegal.[48] He made his debut in the match versus Senegal on 13 October 2015, when he came on as a substitute for Baghdad Bounedjah after 70 minutes of the 1–0 victory.[49] One month later, Benrahma was called into the squad for two 2018 World Cup second round qualifiers versus Tanzania, but did not make an appearance.[7] Benrahma's club form at Brentford during the 2018–19 season was recognised with a call-up for two 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers. He won his second international cap with a start in a 1–0 win over Tunisia on 26 March 2019.[49] He was named in Algeria's preliminary squad for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, but was forced to withdraw due to injury.[50]

Benrahma scored his first international goal in a 4–0 away win against Djibouti on 12 November 2021 in the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.[51] He was named in Algeria's squad for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.[52]

Personal life

Benrahma was born in Aïn Témouchent and grew up in Sidi Bel Abbès.[5] He moved to Toulouse, France with his parents at the age of 11 and holds French nationality.[5] Benrahma's father died in January 2020 and he publicly dedicated each of his subsequent five goals to him.[53][54]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 21 December 2024
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup[a] League cup[b] Europe Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Nice II 2013–14[7] CFA Group C 12 3 — — — — 12 3
2014–15[7] CFA Group C 13 5 — — — — 13 5
2015–16[7] CFA Group C 2 0 — — — — 2 0
2016–17[7] CFA Group D 10 3 — — — — 10 3
Total 37 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 37 11
Nice 2013–14[6] Ligue 1 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 5 0
2014–15[8] Ligue 1 3 1 0 0 0 0 — — 3 1
2015–16[9] Ligue 1 9 2 — 1 0 — — 10 2
Total 17 3 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 18 3
Angers (loan) 2015–16[7] Ligue 1 12 1 1 0 — — — 13 1
Angers II (loan) 2015–16[7] CFA Group B 3 1 — — — — 3 1
Gazélec (loan) 2016–17[7] Ligue 2 15 3 0 0 — — — 15 3
Châteauroux (loan) 2017–18[7] Ligue 2 31 9 3 3 — — — 34 12
Brentford 2018–19[12] Championship 38 10 4 0 3 1 — — 45 11
2019–20[23] Championship 43 17 0 0 0 0 — 3[c] 0 46 17
2020–21[31] Championship 2 0 — 1 2 — — 3 2
Total 83 27 4 0 4 3 0 0 3 0 94 30
West Ham United (loan) 2020–21[d][31] Premier League 30 1 3 0 — — — 33 1
West Ham United 2021–22[55] Premier League 32 8 2 0 2 0 12[e] 3 — 48 11
2022–23[56] Premier League 35 6 3 2 1 0 13[f] 4 — 52 12
2023–24[57] Premier League 13 0 1 0 3 0 5[g] 0 — 22 0
Total 110 15 9 2 6 0 30 7 0 0 155 24
Lyon (loan) 2023–24 Ligue 1 12 3 3 0 — — — 15 3
Lyon 2024–25 Ligue 1 10 1 1 1 — 6[g] 1 — 17 3
Total 22 4 4 1 — 6 1 — 32 6
Career total 330 74 21 6 11 3 36 8 3 0 400 91
  1. ^ Includes Coupe de France, FA Cup
  2. ^ Includes Coupe de la Ligue, EFL Cup
  3. ^ Appearances in Championship play-offs
  4. ^ Part of this season was spent on loan from Brentford
  5. ^ Appearances in UEFA Europa League
  6. ^ Appearances in UEFA Europa Conference League
  7. ^ a b Appearances in UEFA Europa League

International

As of match played 17 November 2024[49]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Algeria 2015 1 0
2019 2 0
2020 3 0
2021 8 1
2022 5 0
2023 6 0
2024 9 3
Total 34 4
Scores and results list Algeria'a goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Benrahma goal.[49]
List of international goals scored by Saïd Benrahma
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 12 November 2021 Cairo International Stadium, Cairo, Egypt  Djibouti 2–0 4–0 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification
2 10 June 2024 Mandela National Stadium, Kampala, Uganda  Uganda 2–1 2–1 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification
3 10 October 2024 19 May 1956 Stadium, Annaba, Algeria  Togo 1–1 5–1 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
4 2–1

Honours

West Ham United

Lyon

Individual

References

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  2. ^ "Saïd Benrahma – Forward – First Team". Brentford. Archived from the original on 9 July 2018. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  3. ^ "Benrahma : "Apprendre auprès de grands joueurs"" (in French). DZFoot. 6 October 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  4. ^ "La Fiche de Saïd Benrahma – Football algerien". www.dzfoot.com. Retrieved 8 July 2018.
  5. ^ a b c d e Fisher, Ben (25 June 2020). "'He could nutmeg a mermaid': the rise of Brentford's Saïd Benrahma". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
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  9. ^ a b "Games played by Saïd Benrahma in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 8 July 2018.
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