Hicham Boudaoui is your Crédit Agricole Young Player of the Season. In his first season with OGC Nice, the Algeria ace deserved inherits Malang Sarr’s crown with 48% of the votes.

He quietly signed for Le Gym, with too much fanfare or hype, despite his status as freshly-crowned African champion. A shy and retiring type off the pitch, Hicham is a veritable livewire on it. However it did take a certain time for Boudaoui to adapt to his new life and a new football. 13 matches to be precise, during which he played just 26 minutes against AS Monaco (Wk.7, 3-1).

THE BREAKTHROUGH AT LYON

Accompanied by his old friend Youcef Atal, Hicham slowly settled and introduced himself to the French football fraternity one night in November against Lyon (Wk.14, 2-1). In the starting line-up for the first time for Les Rouge et Noir, he played in a new position, high up and wide on the pitch, and the ex-Paradou man shone. He proved a constant threat to the Lyon defence with his direct running, speed and skill. Hicham had arrived!

A FAN FAVOURITE

He netted his first goal with a header against Toulouse (3-0) just before the winter break and was at it again straight after against Fréjus Saint-Raphaël (2-0) in the Coupe de France. He quickly became a favourite of the Nice public thanks to his tireless running and endeavour and clinical touch in front of goal.

He made the difference again against Lyon and Reims before a first hiccup and a red card against Nîmes (Wk.24, 1-3), before the season was stopped just four days later.

With two goals and two assists, in all competitions, Hicham Boudaoui is the fans 2019-20 Young Player of the Season with 48% of the votes. Bring on next season!

His season highlights: 

His story... in a cartoon!

Last March, Hicham Boudaoui told his story to the club media. The result? An animated video with more than 430,000 views on the club’s different networks (140,000 on YouTube, 226,000 on Facebook, 35,000 on Twitter and 32,000 on IGTV).

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