In an interview with schalke04.de, the Morocco international speaks about his first weeks in Germany, his language skills and his reasons for moving to Schalke.
- Younes, you celebrated your first goal in the VELTINS-Arena with a spectacular backwards somersault. Where did you learn to move like that?
- Throughout my childhood I often played outside on the street with my mates. We liked to watch karate films and try to copy some of the moves. Sometimes that was just a normal somersault and sometimes a hand-stand somersault.
- Are you an enthusiastic person?
- When I score a goal, yes. Then I just lose it and end up doing things like that somersault against VfB Stuttgart.
- You seem to have integrated into the team very quickly. Have you surprised yourself?
- No, not at all – the way things are done here is hardly any different from France, that makes everything easier. Aside from that, the lads have taken me in brilliantly. We really click as a group, love to have a laugh obviously love football.
- ... which you weren't getting much of in Kyiv?
- Last season I was a regular starter. We were successful - we won the league. The next season I suddenly hardly made it back into the team anymore, which is why I made the decision to look for a new club. The offer from Schalke came at the perfect time.
- In which position do you prefer to play?
- If I could choose, then I’d play in the ‘number 10’ role. But recently we’ve picked up points with me out on the wing. The most important thing is getting the win. Where I play doesn’t matter at all.
- Have you already settled in here in Germany?
- Yes, and very quickly at that. My family and I found a place to stay in Recklinghausen. We like the town. We’ve also been to Oberhausen and had a closer look at Gelsenkirchen. The zoo is particularly interesting for us, because my wife and I have two young children. Mohamed is 20 years old and our daughter Nour is seven months old. When we both had two days off recently we went on a little daytrip to Düsseldorf.
- What do you miss living here?
- I miss my parents. Having said that, they have visited and will be doing again soon - they only live an hour and a half away on the plane.
- How’s your German coming along? Which words have you learnt?
- Hallo. Wie geht’s? Alles gut? Achtung! Links. Rechts. Eins, zwei, drei, vier …
- How do you learn?
- The best way is to find contact with the people. I pick up new phrases every day from my teammates. Aside from that I have a language app on my phone, which helps.
- Are there a lot of teammates who can jump in as interpreters?
- Yeah, especially Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg - his mother is French. We share a room at hotels for away games. Joel Matip, Thilo Kehrer and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting all speak French as well, as does Andre Breitenreiter.
- You’ve recently become active on Facebook and Twitter. You went a long time without any official social media accounts. Why now?
- For me it was never that important to publicize my life. Now, though, I want to give my fans the opportunity to be a part of my career and get in contact with them. But even at the training complex I’m always meeting supporters. It’s fantastic. In Montpellier during the holidays there was always all hell loose at the training ground. I’ve heard it’s supposed to be very similar at Schalke. I’m looking forward to it very much.
