French-born Moroccan professional footballer Amine Harit, who also plays for FC Schalke 04 and the Morocco national team, has been named Bundesliga’s Rookie for the 2017/18 season, reports the BBC.
The 20-year-old midfielder moved from the French club Nantes last year to Schalke where he helped his team to be part of the Champions League.
With his German club, Harit scored three goals and registered seven assists in 31 Bundesliga, says the same source.
Hervé Renard à propos d'@Amine_000 : "Il va être très important pour cette Coupe du Monde. Il s'est imposé à une vitesse record. Vous pouvez être sûrs que je vais m'en servir et que je ne vais pas me passer d'un talent pareil." pic.twitter.com/4wrFDmZ9R1
— Maroc (@EnMaroc) May 30, 2018
Thanks to his performance, Harit succeeded in leaving behind eight winners of the Bundesliga Rookie of the Month award, namely Jann-Fiete Arp, Tatsuya Ito, Sébastien Haller, Valentino Lazaro, Benjamin Pavard, Jadon Sancho and Dan-Axel Zagadou.
Harit made his debut with Nantes on 13 August 2016 in a game against Dijon. He has been able to switch allegiance to Morocco after he won the European Under-19 Championship with France.
Voting over, the results are in
— Bundesliga English (@Bundesliga_EN) May 29, 2018
Your #BLRookie of the season presented by @TAGHeuer is @s04_en's Amine Harit!
Congratulations, @Amine_000! #DontCrackUnderPressure pic.twitter.com/ecbAaDBzsD
He played for the first time with the Atlas Lions during the 2018 World Cup qualifier in October 2017 in a game against Gabon. Harit is also selected to join the national team in its adventure in Russia this summer.
For the record, a Rookie of the Year award is granted by sports leagues to the top-performing athlete in his or her first season within the league.