Mehdi Benatia Rejects Maghreb Footballer of the Year Award, Criticizes Journalist
Mehdi Benatia has expressed strong dissatisfaction with the Maghreb Footballer of the Year award organized by France Football over the past two years. Following the announcement of the 2014 winner, Algerian Yacine Brahimi, Benatia took to Twitter to voice his frustrations.
“I would like to publicly ask this famous clown of a journalist to get me out of this bogus trophy, from his invented awards and above all to stop criticizing my national team,” Benatia wrote. “I already told him, my agent told him again. I don’t want to be part of your unimportant vote. But every year, he enjoys putting me 2nd and criticizing Morocco, ridiculous really,” he added.
Despite his criticism, Benatia, who was recently named Arab Player of the Year at the Globe Soccer Awards in Dubai, took the time to acknowledge the talent of Yacine Brahimi, who has also been honored as the BBC Player of the Year.
