Othmane Maamma: Why Liverpool and Man Utd are crazy for Championship ace

Robin Bairner

3 Jan 2026 08:59 CST
4 min read

Othmane Maamma has only taken six months in English football to attract transfer attention from Liverpool and Man Utd.

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The Morocco U20 forward moved to Watford in the summer following Montpellier’s relegation from Ligue 1.

He had been given significant first-team exposure in France, in part thanks to his talent but also due to Montpellier’s crippling financial problems, which forced them to rely on youth and then meant they were unable to drive a hard bargain for him in the summer.

Current ETV

Othmane Maamma

M (R)

Watford

Othmane Maamma

M (R)

Watford

ETV Range

€1.5M - €2.2M

As such, Watford signed the 20-year-old for just €1.3 million, a fee that is already starting to look a bargain.

Liverpool, Manchester United and Newcastle are reported by TeamTalk to be extensively scouting the young star, but what is it about the forward that has attracted such interest?

What type of player is Othmane Maamma?

Maamma is a versatile wide player who has featured both off the left and right for Watford. He only made his debut for the Hornets in November, fresh from winning the Golden Ball at the U20 World Cup – a billing that he has lived up to.

In 785 minutes of first-team football, he has already scored three goals and created another.

SciSports, a leading data analytics firm, shows that he has been one of the elite wingers in the Championship from what little time he has been on the field.

Maamma a chance creation monster

Dazzling dribbling ability is one of the most eye-catching strengths of Maamma, who is a player who excites fans by showing directness in possession and a willingness to take players on one-on-one. In Watford’s 3-0 win over Birmingham City, he attempted nine dribbles, completing five of them.

From a recruitment perspective, the most striking aspect is the volume of opportunities he generates and gets on the end of. He ranks in the 99th percentile of non-penalty xG and shots total while he is in the 98th percentile for non-penalty xG combined with expected assists (xA).

There are echoes of Manchester City attacker Rayan Cherki to his style. Both have the same appetite to carry the ball and generate mayhem with direct dribbling and smart passes.

Defensive qualities to catch the eye

That attacking output only tells part of the story. Defensively, he is both intelligent and hard-working, combining stamina with smarts to help his side.

Teams such as Liverpool and Manchester United will have a particularly close eye on this aspect of his game given that they ideally want to play high-tempo defensive football in which they are proactive and force mistakes.

No winger rates higher for defensive position and open-play disruption in the Championship than Maamma this season, while he also ranks well in transition forcing, which illustrates his ability to provoke opponents into making mistakes that cause turnovers in possession.

Any weaknesses?

Maamma’s pass completion percentage is notably low. This is often caused by attempting ambitious flicks, which have their time and place but could serve to frustrate a manager eager to build pressure with smart possession football.

Watford will only sell for ‘crazy’ offer

Assistant manager Valon Behrami says that a January deal for Maamma is unlikely.

Speaking in December, he said: “No, I don’t expect a sale. We’re not used to selling in January. Of course, if it's something crazy it would be a different kind of evaluation, but it's important for us to keep a player like Maamma.

“Now comes the difficult part for him because the expectations are higher game by game. That's something we need to pay attention to and that's the only priority that we are thinking about with him.

“When expectations are higher, the pressure is higher. We are here to support him through this process.”

Both Man Utd and Liverpool may wish to hold fire to see how Maamma copes with this additional expectation in the weeks ahead, but should he maintain his ability to open up defences, he will be high up the shopping list of some very big Premier League sides come the summer.