Portugal Sparks Interest in Meziane Soares Masloub to Keep Him Away from the "Greens"!
The Algerian Football Federation's interest in including Algerian talent Meziane Soares Masloub in the national team has prompted the Portuguese Football Federation to act early to retain the player from French club Lens.
In an unexpected move, Portugal's U21 coach, Luís Freire, has called up the 16-year-old player for a training camp this September, reflecting the Portuguese desire to keep him within their senior national team project.
The Portuguese U21 team will face Bulgaria on September 25, followed by Gibraltar on September 30 and the Czech Republic on October 6, as part of the 2027 UEFA European Championship qualifiers for their age group.
Calling up a 16-year-old to the U21 team is an unusual step, as the Portuguese aim to entice the son of former "Greens" player Walid Masloub to continue with their project, preventing the possibility of him representing Algeria internationally like his father.
Although Masloub has represented Portugal at youth levels and is currently called up to the U21 team, the doors remain open for him to join the "Greens," as the player, who was born in France to an Algerian father and a Portuguese mother, has the ability to represent all three national teams.
Therefore, his participation with Portugal's youth teams does not definitively determine his international future, especially given the "FAF's" efforts to convince him to wear the "Greens" jersey.
Portugal U21 Coach: “We are Preparing Masloub for the Senior Team... and We Don’t Compare Him to Yamal”
For his part, Portugal's U21 coach, Luís Freire, did not hide that Masloub's call-up is linked to preparing him for future inclusion in the senior team, as stated in comments published today, Friday, by the Portuguese newspaper “abola”.
Luís Freire said: “He is a 16-year-old player who has been part of our youth teams, and this is a project developed by our coaching staff and trainers... He played with the U17 team, and we have continued to communicate with him and monitor him since then.”
He added: “In fact, he only started playing recently, in the context of the UEFA Champions League, where he began playing in Ligue 1, and then he caught our attention more in the U21 team.”
He continued: “With the quality he has shown, this is a good opportunity to see him up close because he displays traits such as creativity, dribbling ability, and speed. The level he is playing at in the Champions League and the French league matches the level we want in the U21 team as well.”
The U21 coach rejected comparisons between young Masloub and Spanish player Lamine Yamal, whose career has been similar in terms of early maturity, emphasizing: “Comparisons are not helpful for them... We want to cultivate their enjoyment of playing.”
He added: “We always tend to compare him to another player and place him directly at a much higher level... He has just started playing with Lens.”
He concluded: “We decided to allow him to skip stages due to his talent and quality. But we have done this before... Meziane is another player we are promoting with the aim of preparing him for the present in the short term with our national team, as well as for the future.”
𝗢𝗯𝗷𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗼: Secure Qualification for the U21 European Championship 2027 🔏
🔗 𝗦𝗔𝗕𝗘 𝗠𝗔𝗜𝗦 👉 https://t.co/ZFflgxbRPq#U21EURO | @UEFAMensYouth pic.twitter.com/e9lqod2rGn
— Portugal (@selecaoportugal) September 18, 2026
