Star makes ‘wonderful’ start after Leicester City exit with goal on European debut

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The words of Jose Mourinho are always worth reflecting on when any club – Championship promotion-chasers Leicester City, for instance – lose a player they would ideally have liked to keep.

‘See where they play, how they play, if they play’, Mourinho quipped towards the end of his Manchester United tenure in 2018.

Meaning, you often only really get an idea about how much of a loss that player really was by analysing the impact he has made – or a lack thereof – at his new employers.

In the case of former Leicester City playmaker Bilal El Khannouss, meanwhile, the answers to Mourinho’s three questions are as follows; a] Stuttgart, b] with ever-growing returns, and c], pretty regularly.

Earlier this week, after his second Bundesliga start in a Stuttgart shirt, El Khannouss admitted he was still adapting to German football. The difference in intensity, he said, was something he may need a while to get used to.

Yet, goals in successive appearances hardly paint the picture of a footballer yet to meet early expectations. After opening his Bundesliga account with a lovely first-time finish in last week’s 2-0 victory over St Pauli, El Khannouss was the matchwinner as Stuttgart kicked off their Europa League campaign against Celta Vigo.

Stuttgart’s former Leicester City ace Bilal El Khannouss scores on Europa League debut

The Belgium-born Morocco international only scored two goals during his entire first season at Leicester. He is already one away from matching that tally in the white of Stuttgart, and could do so before the Halloween masks even hit the supermarket shelves.

On his Europa League debut, El Khannouss played a one-two from a short corner, drifted across the Celta penalty area and curled an inch-perfect strike into the far corner.

“It’s a wonderful start to the Europa League,” he smiled at full-time. “We’re very happy and satisfied with our performance and the result. It was a deserved home win, in my view.

“We did what we set out to do and worked hard as a team to get the win.

“I’m very happy with my strong start in Stuttgart. Every goal and every good performance is helping me settle.”

Sebastian Hoeness hails El Khannouss as Leicester miss out on Saudi Arabia millions

Speaking to Sky Sports after his arrival at Leicester in the summer of 2024, his former coach at Genk Michel Ribeiro opened up on how El Khannouss honed that trademark finish back in Belgium. He would practice incessantly the sort of finish he produced against both St Pauli and Celta Vigo; little power, but extreme accuracy.

Both of his Leicester goals – versus West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur – were scored using that very same technique.

“He puts the ball in [the net] superbly with the inside of his foot,” Stuttgart coach Sebastian Hoeness beamed, while striker Ermedin Demirovic hailed the addition of a ‘superb footballer’.

“[El Khannouss] is a very open, approachable boy with positive charisma.”

While Crystal Palace made a bid during the summer window – seemingly viewing the 21-year-old as a replacement for Ebere Eze – EFL Analysis were informed that Leicester City had planned to raise £40 million by sending El Khannouss to Saudi Arabia.

He would eventually join Stuttgart on an initial loan deal. An obligation-to-buy clause can be triggered, but the Foxes will barely make over half of the fee they had hoped to bring in from the Middle East.