Youcef Izem aims to turn Mediterranean Games success into a breakthrough at JS Kabylie

Youcef Izem has moved from being an unknown substitute in the JS Kabylie academy to a Mediterranean Games champion with Algeria Under-21s, but the 19-year-old midfielder now faces a crucial stage of his development as he seeks regular senior football.

Izem is the 18th player featured in the #TalentsAlgeriens series, which follows 25 young footballers to watch in the Algerian Ligue 1 during the 2026/27 season. The selection is necessarily subjective and considers not only individual ability, but also potential, expected club involvement and the importance of the campaign to each player’s progress.

Born in Azazga on 19 February 2007, Izem was still one of many young players at JS Kabylie in 2023. He was playing for the club’s cadet side and had not yet acquired any particular status when Aziz Lahoussine, then coach of Algeria Under-17s, watched a league match between the young Canaris and Khemis El Khechna.

Izem began that game on the bench. After being introduced, however, he quickly caught Lahoussine’s attention.

« Mais qu’est-ce qu’il fait comme remplacant celui-la ? »

The most striking feature of his performance was his range of passing, especially the long deliveries produced by his left foot. Within weeks, a player who had still been waiting for opportunities at club level had become part of the national-team set-up for his age group.

Lahoussine saw a midfielder who could operate in several roles rather than one fixed position. Izem could play as a number eight, an attacking midfielder or even from a wider area, with his common quality being an ability to move his team forward.

There was another challenge to overcome. Izem came from Grande Kabylie and at that time mainly spoke Kabyle, meaning his adjustment to international football involved social and communication issues as well as those on the pitch.

During one training camp, Lahoussine initially placed him in a room with another JS Kabylie team-mate. The coach later separated the pair in an attempt to encourage Izem to engage more with the rest of the squad. He was moved in with Daniel Mahdid of MC Alger, a player with a much more outgoing personality.

The difficulty was that the two players did not speak the same language. Izem therefore had to learn to step beyond the familiar environment of his club long before being asked to do so in senior football.

That process has continued quickly. At the Mediterranean Games in Taranto last August, Algerian supporters saw much more of Izem as he established himself as a starter for the Under-21 side managed by Brahim Hemdani. Algeria went on to win the competition, making the player who had once been spotted on the cadet bench a Mediterranean champion.

His progress with the national team has been accompanied by tentative steps at JS Kabylie. Rabah Bensafi, who coached the club during the final 10 matches of last season, handed Izem consecutive starts. The first, against ES Setif, ended with the midfielder scoring.

The following match was considerably more difficult, underlining the uneven nature of a young player’s introduction to senior football. For a 19-year-old, the two games represented both sides of the transition: a goal capable of building confidence, followed by an evening in which the demands of the level became much harder to manage. One of those starts, against Chlef, ended with Izem being substituted at half-time.

Karim Belhocine, who took charge of JS Kabylie this summer, has also recognised the qualities that make Izem an intriguing prospect. His left foot allows him to play forward and improve his team’s possession, while his understanding of space helps him identify where to move in order to accelerate an attack.

That ability means his influence is not limited to long passes or technical execution. Izem’s value also comes from recognising when and where to position himself to make the next action possible.

Belhocine is convinced there is significant potential, although Bensafi offers a more cautious assessment. The former JS Kabylie coach accepts that Izem is technically gifted but believes he still needs to develop greater tactical consistency and establish the automatisms required at professional level. Bensafi also notes that his 10-match spell on the bench did not provide enough time for detailed individual work in those areas.

Physical development is another part of the challenge. Sofiane Benkhelifa, a coach and youth developer who has worked with USM Alger, Olympique Akbou and ES Setif, describes Izem as “unpredictable” and capable of scoring, but believes he must become stronger to meet the demands of senior football.

Bensafi is less concerned with Izem’s overall frame than with his ability to maintain consistent fitness throughout a full season. The priority is not necessarily to transform his body, but to ensure he can withstand the physical demands of regular senior competition.

Away from the pitch, Bensafi still sees the reserved personality first noticed by Lahoussine three years ago. Since then, Izem has gone from struggling to communicate with a team-mate in a shared room to starting for an Algeria side that won the Mediterranean Games.

His development is already substantial. The next step must come at JS Kabylie, where he now has to turn international promise and two consecutive starts into a sustained place in the senior team.