Yasin Ben El-Mhanni

Yasin Ben El-Mhanni (born 26 October 1995) is a professional footballer who plays as a winger. He is currently a free agent after leaving Scottish Championship side Arbroath Before joining Newcastle United in 2016, he played in non-League football with Farnborough and Lewes. Then he went to Scotland to join Arbroath for the season.

Yasin Ben El-Mhanni
Ben El-Mhanni playing for Lewes in 2015
Personal information
Date of birth (1995-10-26) 26 October 1995
Place of birth Shepherd's Bush, London, England[1]
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[2]
Position(s) Winger
Youth career
Barnet
Aldershot Town
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2015 AFC Hayes 3 (0)
2015 Farnborough 3 (0)
2015–2016 Lewes 9 (0)
2016–2018 Newcastle United 0 (0)
2018–2020 Scunthorpe United 6 (0)
2021–2022 Chesham United 11 (0)
2022 Harrow Borough 10 (3)
2023 Arbroath 8 (2)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 11:16, 24 March 2023 (UTC)

Club career

Early career

El-Mhanni was born in Shepherd's Bush, London.[3] He was soon signed by Barnet before playing with Aldershot Town, as well as Isthmian League clubs Farnborough and Lewes.[4] While playing in the southern leagues, Ben El-Mhanni made a name for himself on YouTube where videos of his skill and trickery earned him the chance to star in commercials for Sports on Screen.[4] For the commercials, Ben El-Mhanni flew to Spain and acted as a body double and skill consultant for Brazil and Barcelona star Neymar, as well as multiple Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo.[4] His display of skill in the lower English leagues saw him dubbed the "non-League Riyad Mahrez" because of his North African heritage and similar style-of-play.[5]

In 2015 and 2016, Ben El-Mhanni trialed with several Premier League clubs, including Watford, Bournemouth, West Bromwich Albion, Crystal Palace and Chelsea.[6][3] During his spell with Chelsea, Ben El-Mhanni trained under first-team manager, Guus Hiddink and scored on his debut for the reserve side.[4]

Newcastle United

On 8 July 2016, Ben El-Mhanni was signed by then Championship club Newcastle United.[7][8] His debut came on 18 January 2017 in the third round of the FA Cup, in which he played 70 minutes in a 3–1 win over Championship rivals Birmingham City.[9] Ben El-Mhanni featured again in the next round, but could not help prevent Newcastle from being eliminated at the hands of League One club Oxford United.[10]

In January 2018, Ben El-Mhanni filed a grievance against Newcastle academy coach Peter Beardsley, accusing him of bullying and discrimination. Beardsley was placed on gardening leave and at the end of the season an independent appeal body found that he had used discriminatory language and conducted himself in a generally unfair manner towards El-Mhanni.[11] In March, between the appeal process but unrelated thereto, El-Mhanni was advised that his contract with Newcastle would not be renewed.[12]

After his release from Newcastle United he trained with West London club Brentford during pre season.[13]

Scunthorpe United

On 26 October 2018, Ben El-Mhanni signed for EFL League One club Scunthorpe United on a contract until the end of the season.[14] On 13 November, he made a goalscoring debut for the club when he netted and made an assist in a 3–2 EFL Trophy loss to Mansfield Town.[15]

His contract was extended by Scunthorpe at the end of the 2018–19 season.[16]

Ben El-Mhanni left League Two club Scunthorpe United in the summer of 2020 after only eight appearances.[17]

In September 2021, El Mhanni joined Southern League Premier Division South club Chesham United.[18] In February 2022, he joined Harrow Borough.[19] During the summer he left Harrow Borough and in July 2022, joined Championship side Reading on trial.[20]

Arbroath

On 2 January 2023, after having waited since the summer to sign, Ben El-Mhanni joined Scottish Championship side Arbroath until the end of the season.[21] He made his debut the same day in a win over league leaders Dundee.[22]

Personal life

El-Mhanni is a Muslim.[23]

Career statistics
As of match played 3 March 2020
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup EFL Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
A.F.C. Hayes 2014–15[24] Southern League First Division Central 2 0 — — — 2 0
Farnborough 2015–16[25] Isthmian League Premier Division 3 0 2 0 — — 5 0
Lewes 2015–16[26] Isthmian League Premier Division 9 0 — — 2[lower-alpha 1] 1 11 1
Newcastle United 2016–17[27] Championship 002000—20
2017–18[28] League Two 000000—00
Total 002000—20
Scunthorpe United 2018–19[29] League One 5010001[lower-alpha 2]171
2019–20[30] League Two 1000000010
Total 6010001181
Career total 200500032262
  1. Appearances in FA Trophy
  2. Appearance in EFL Trophy

References
  1. "Who is Yasin Ben El-Mhanni?". Newcastle United Official Site. 18 January 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  2. "Y. Ben El-Mhanni". Soccerway. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  3. Hytner, David (7 January 2016). "West Brom take non-league forward Yasin Ben El-Mhanni on trial". Guardian. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  4. Easterby, Tom (18 January 2017). "Who is Yasin Ben El-Mhanni?". Newcastle United Football Club. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  5. Ryder, Lee (8 July 2016). "Done deal: Newcastle United sign non-league's answer to Riyad Mahrez". Chronicle Live. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  6. Phillippe, Charlie (30 November 2016). "Liverpool and Spurs suffer blow: YouTube sensation trains with Chelsea today". Express. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  7. Easterby, Tom (8 July 2016). "Magpies Sign Young Duo". Newcastle United Football Club. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  8. "Yasin signs for the Toon". Lewes Football Club. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  9. Waugh, Chris (18 January 2017). "Newcastle United debut watch: How did Yasin Ben El-Mhanni, Stuart Findlay and Dan Barlaser perform?". Chronicle Live. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  10. White, Jim (28 January 2017). "Oxford 3 Newcastle United 0: League One side stun Rafa Benitez's men". Telegraph. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  11. Hutchinson, Lisa (6 June 2018). "Peter Beardsley's treatment of Yasin Ben El-Mhanni was 'generally unfair', says independent appeal". Chronicle Live. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  12. Taylor, Louise (9 March 2018). "Newcastle player at centre of Peter Beardsley allegations released by club". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  13. "Championship transfer news: Brentford take Leeds United target Yasin Ben El-Mhanni on trial". Goal.com. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
  14. "Yasin Ben El-Mhanni: Scunthorpe sign former Newcastle winger". BBC Sport. 26 October 2018. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
  15. Nash, Matthew (14 November 2018). "Debut goal for Leeds United summer target Yasin Ben El-Mhanni". The Boot Room. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
  16. "Josh Morris: Scunthorpe midfielder one of three released as Iron unveil retained list". BBC Sport. 17 May 2019. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
  17. "Club statement: Retained list". www.scunthorpe-united.co.uk. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
  18. "New Arrivals at Chesham". Retrieved 26 September 2021.
  19. "YASIN BEN EL-MHANNI SIGNS". Harrow Borough F.C. 18 February 2022. Retrieved 6 April 2022.
  20. "The three trialists aiming to impress Paul Ince in Reading FC's friendly with West Ham United". getreading.co.uk. 16 July 2022. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  21. "Welcome Yasin Ben El-Mhanni". Arbroath FC. 2 January 2023. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  22. "Dundee suffer shock home defeat by Arbroath". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  23. "Arbroath winger on Ramadan and being Neymar's body double". BBC Sport. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  24. "Yasin Ben-Elmanni – AFC Hayes 1st Team". www.pitchero.com. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
  25. "Farnborough | Appearances | Yasin Ben-Elmhanni | 2015–2016". Football Web Pages. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
  26. "Lewes | Appearances | Yasin Ben El-Mhanni | 2015–2016". Football Web Pages. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
  27. "Games played by Yasin Ben El-Mhanni in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  28. "Games played by Yasin Ben El-Mhanni in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  29. "Games played by Yasin Ben El-Mhanni in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  30. "Games played by Yasin Ben El-Mhanni in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
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