Saïd Benrahma

A winger, Benrahma began his youth career with Algerian club NRB Bethioua,[3] before moving to France and joining Balma SC, 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 Ajaccio 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]

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 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]

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 29 January 2021 the loan deal was terminated early as West Ham signed Benrahma on a permanent contract.[35] The club agreed to pay £25m plus £5m in add-ons. The transfer fee made Benrahma West Ham’s third most expensive player behind Sébastien Haller and Felipe Anderson.[36][37]