Eliesse Ben Seghir: Who is the creative Moroccan forward?

Born in southern France, Ben Seghir started playing football in Saint-Tropez before joining Monaco’s youth setup at the age of 15 in 2020. The French-Moroccan forward worked his way up the age groups before making his senior debut in the UEFA Europa League in November 2022.

Youngest brace in Ligue 1

Ben Seghir bagged a brace on his debut in Ligue 1 to help Monaco to a 3-2 win away at Auxerre, making him the youngest player ever to score two goals in a single game in France’s top flight. He would make 18 more appearances in Ligue 1 and three in the Europa League up to the end of 2022/23.

After an injury-plagued following campaign, Ben Seghir made his breakthrough at Monaco last season, having a direct hand in nine goals in 33 league games, plus scoring two goals in 10 UEFA Champions League outings and two more goal involvements in the cup. The new Leverkusen man, whose older brother Salim plays for Neuchatel Xamax in Switzerland, featured in Monaco’s first two games of this season.

Olympic bronze

After numerous appearances for France’s youth national teams up to U19 level, Ben Seghir elected to represent Morocco in early 2024. He made his debut in March before getting to play at the Paris Olympics that summer. He appeared in every game as the Atlas Lions finished third to win a bronze medal. Ben Seghir has also played alongside former Werkself forward Amine Adli during qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Speaking of the new signing, managing director sport Simon Rolfes said: “Eliesse is a first-class technician, full of ideas and clever in his dribbling, as well as having a precise passing game that can open things up.” Ben Seghir himself explained in his first interview with Werkself-TV at the BayArena that “Bayer 04 is a great club that you associate with lots of big names. I’m very proud to be here, want to perform to my best and help the team achieve our goals.” You can hear more from Ben Seghir and see his first hours in Leverkusen HERE.