Player Spotlight: Abdellatif Aboukoura
How Loudoun's 20-year-old winger has made the leap to star status in 2025
This time is different.
Back in 2022, then-teenager Abdellatif Aboukoura lit the USL Championship on fire with four goals and an assist in his first six appearances of the year. His Loudoun side, however, had picked up seven out of a possible 39 points by then. His club was on their way to finishing 26 points below the playoff line.
As March turns to April in 2025, Aboukoura is at it again with an identical goal contribution return. The distinction? He’s a mature 20-year-old these days, and he’s leading a Loudoun United side that’s second in the Eastern Conference.
So far this season, Aboukoura has lit up the stat sheet. He’s the leading dribbler in the USL. His xG and xA returns are elite. The Egyptian youth international is also doing his part defensively, having posted 1.6 final third takeaways per match (a 96th percentile mark) to help spearhead Ryan Martin’s 4-4-2 press.
Aboukoura has exclusively starred as a left winger this season, where he’s excelled in an inverted deployment. Right-footed cuts inside have been his specialty, and all four of his goals have been right-footed finishes. It’s no surprise that he’s been Loudoun’s primary set piece taker on that stronger side as well.
Beyond the numbers, what does the tape tell us about Aboukoura? For one, his ability to seek out open space and maximize his low center of gravity makes the 5’9” winger a tremendous threat.
The full suite of Aboukoura’s skills shine above, where the winger’s first goal from a win against Rhode Island FC is shown.
This play starts with Loudoun in their pressing shape, using forward-line pressure to force an errant pass that’s intercepted in the midfield. Before United has even regained, Aboukoura starts to sprint upfield. He’s thinking multiple steps ahead, instantly creating momentum behind his first touch and sharpening the angle at which a pursuing Rhode Island player will have to close down.
The eventual pass is a half-step behind the winger, but he gracefully scoops the ball with his right foot and begins his dribble. As Aboukoura nears a stepping center back, he feels heat on his backside from that aforementioned RIFC closer. In one clean motion, the 20-year-old body fakes to shake the defender in front of him and simultaneously boxes out that pursuer to prevent a tackle from behind.
There’s one more subtle controlling touch to make sure the ball doesn’t run into the path of another recovering center back, but then Aboukoura is in the clear. Without wasting a second, he precisely fires a shot into the bottom corner, and it’s 1-0 to Loudoun thanks to a masterclass of body control and spatial intelligence.
Aboukoura brings that same level of drive and nous to the build-up phase. In this case, Loudoun is working through Rhode Island’s high press, but their pivot is pinned. Tommy McCabe is receiving within his own 18-yard box, and he’ll be closed down momentarily. Drew Skundrich, meanwhile, is placed further upfield and can’t really be accessed.
Loudoun needs a pressure-relieving outlet, and Aboukoura rises to the occasion. Because RIFC has attempted to pin Loudoun on their right side, the left is open. #11’s low run fills that space, but it also provides defensive reassurance; if there’s a giveaway, Aboukoura can keep pushing back to buttress Loudoun’s structure in block.
It’s notable here that Aboukoura is making the drop as left back Kwame Awuah stays higher on the sideline. There’s clearly some unseen communication going on, evidence of how Martin has drilled particular fullback-winger relationships into his players.1 Here, that setup allows Aboukoura to receive, break the press, and turn upfield to find himself looking at three runners that can potentially overload RIFC on the break.
Of course, press relief is low on the list of attributes that make Aboukoura a standout. Increasingly, it’s his gravity without the ball that’s making defenses pay.
Across his four league matches to date, #11 has taken just nine of a team-wide 52 shot attempts. That 17% share is somewhat high, but it’s not the sign of pure heliocentrism. Likewise, Aboukoura takes only 8% of Loudoun’s touches when he’s on the pitch. Again, that’s a fairly high mark that puts him in the 86th percentile of all midfielders, but it’s lower than comparable difference-makers like Maxi Rodriguez, Jack Blake, and even teammate Florian Valot.
Still, the idea of Abdellatif Aboukoura is dangerous. As you see above, defenses are forced to hone in on the midfielder when he’s making a run. In the screenshot, that means two Louisville defenders focus their eyelines on Aboukoura as he dips into the halfspace, where he could potentially receive from McCabe.
Here, though, Aboukoura doesn’t get a touch. Instead, Valot and striker Zach Ryan make complementary right-to-left runs against their teammate’s momentum and, crucially, against the momentum of the distracted center backs. The result is a McCabe chip and a touch in the box, all without Aboukoura having sniffed the ball.
The feints and gravity are good, but you’d rather have Aboukoura getting actual touches. #11 is taking a touch once every 90 seconds on average in 2025, a high rate for someone at his position. That’s largely due to his spatial awareness and a mature ability to scan the pitch.
Scanning, to put it bluntly, is the art of looking around. The more information a player has about his surroundings, the better able he is to make decisions with the ball. Abdellatif Aboukoura is very good at scanning, deciding what the game state means for his next touch, and adjusting his body in turn.
Above, you see Aboukoura look over his left shoulder and pivot his hips as soon as defender Jacob Erlandson starts to hint at an upfield pass. Aboukoura knows that he can receive with momentum on his left foot because of that scanning glance; he also knows that at least one advanced Loudoun runner will be pushing ahead – either to receive on a quick through ball or to force the defense backwards, thereby opening more space to dribble.
It’s the latter case here, so Aboukoura can dribble ahead once he’s on the ball. At this stage, most players would make the obvious choice and attempt a through ball.
Not Aboukoura. Instead of taking that option, he waits a beat for the defense to commit to the advanced runners, rejects the pass, and cleverly snakes his dribble toward the right to pin LouCity’s leftmost defender. Aboukoura knows how threatening his right foot is, maximizes it to freeze that opponent, and lets winger Wesley Leggett (looped in white above) push behind to receive in the box.
The key word amidst it all is “awareness.” Aboukoura is aware of what’s behind him. He’s aware of what makes him a dangerous player and how defenses are coached to approach him. He’s aware of his teammates’ tendencies, and he can set the tempo accordingly.
Raw talent can get you far in the USL, and I’d argue that’s a lot of what we saw from Abdellatif Aboukoura in 2022. Fast forward three years, and the 20-year-old is at another level. Aboukoura understands the sport at a deeper level, and he’s elevating Loudoun’s ceiling – along with his own transfer prospects – as a result.
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