What a waste of ability

Still one of our best players of recent times.It was a disgrace how VK treated him in his second season.

From that Championship winning team, I thought he showed the most promise to make the step up Was amazed Kompany didn't make it work. Shambolic really

Thought he might have followed Will Still to Southampton.. a real shame he hasn't fulfilled that early potential as Zaroury and Benson were like cheat codes in that Championship season.

Woodleyclaret wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 04, 2025 2:14 am

Still one of our best players of recent times.It was a disgrace how VK treated him in his second season.

Was he though? For half a season he was great. After Christmas he blew hot and cold. His decision making was always questionable.

He didn't get a chance in the Prem for a reason, not just because Kompany forgot about him. He didn't make an impact at Hull. Lens are moving him on after a year.

I loved watching him and Benson that season and they provided some great moments and amazing memories but the fact that neither player has kicked on from that tells it's own story.

Agree with the above post, he never quite hit the heights of that first half-season after the weird World Cup break.

Looked like he was going to have the world at his feet; but, for whatever reason, things fell off.

I still love him, mind.

Bacchus wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 04, 2025 8:09 am

Was he though? For half a season he was great. After Christmas he blew hot and cold. His decision making was always questionable.

He didn't get a chance in the Prem for a reason, not just because Kompany forgot about him. He didn't make an impact at Hull. Lens are moving him on after a year.

I loved watching him and Benson that season and they provided some great moments and amazing memories but the fact that neither player has kicked on from that tells it's own story.

Agreed, there comes a point when you look at the player rather than blame Kompany, his other managers or the clubs he has been at.

It is a shame as the first few months after he arrived he looked so good.

Zaroury was magical for a good 6/7 months but he was poor in the back end of the promotion season and absolutely hopeless on his very rare outings in the Premier League. I particularly remember the difference in his performance in the cup for us away at Bournemouth where he scored twice, and then his non-performance there for us in the Premier League just a few months later on that year. Chalk and cheese - like he had lost all confidence in himself.

He’s a player that clearly has talent, but I think he struggles with the physicality of the top leagues. Because he’s not overly quick or strong.

Good player but not sure he’s going to have a career in the top leagues

Yeah not gonna blame VK for this one, Zaroury went away to the World Cup, didn't get on the pitch (or did he for maybe like 10 minutes in the whole tournament?) and when he came back he was pretty poor for us.

Hard to say if it was that a lot of his sharpness had dropped off from spending a month sitting on the bench or whether it was something else bothering him (Toogoodtobehereitis?), but his performances the second half of that season were completely forgettable and he didn't do much the season after either.

Great player on his day and a likeable lad, but not the shining wonderkid half this board makes him out to be.

We got so excited about Benson and Zaroury but neither have shown they are likely to step up.

As others have said, he wasn’t the same player after the World Cup, not consistently, but just occasionally like the FA Cup tie at Bournemouth.

The type of player that got me on the edge of my seat but it was short-lived

Procrastinate B wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 04, 2025 8:25 am

Agree with the above post, he never quite hit the heights of that first half-season after the weird World Cup break.

Looked like he was going to have the world at his feet; but, for whatever reason, things fell off.

I still love him, mind.

He got huge coverage on Moroccan social media, when he made their squad. Many thousands suddenly subscribed to him. I wonder if that turned his head?

Will always remember him for that tidy finish against
R*vers in the 3-0 win on the Turf.

Good luck to him in the future.

IanMcL wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 04, 2025 9:33 am

He got huge coverage on Moroccan social media, when he made their squad. Many thousands suddenly subscribed to him. I wonder if that turned his head?

I remember seeing reports that his attitude had changed, become poor.

Bacchus wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 04, 2025 8:09 am

Was he though? For half a season he was great. After Christmas he blew hot and cold. His decision making was always questionable.

He didn't get a chance in the Prem for a reason, not just because Kompany forgot about him. He didn't make an impact at Hull. Lens are moving him on after a year.

I loved watching him and Benson that season and they provided some great moments and amazing memories but the fact that neither player has kicked on from that tells it's own story.

Spot on.

Yeah, he was a different player after the World Cup in Qatar. A massive shame because he was electric for us before that.

ElectroClaret wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 04, 2025 9:35 am

Will always remember him for that tidy finish against
R*vers in the 3-0 win on the Turf.

Good luck to him in the future.

And the delicious cross for the infamous Barnes goal

The blaming of Kompany for Zaroury's form (or lack of it) is hilariously agenda-driven.

Was good for us for a grand total of four months and then pretty consistently awful afterwards. A year later he couldn't get into a very poor Hull team and was then offloaded quickly by Lens after one year.

Strange one, he looked like he was going to be a star but has faded badly since that World Cup. Maybe he's just not that arsed, still going to make a decent living out of football.

Woosh Deakin wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 04, 2025 10:59 am

The blaming of Kompany for Zaroury's form (or lack of it) is hilariously agenda-driven.

Was good for us for a grand total of four months and then pretty consistently awful afterwards. A year later he couldn't get into a very poor Hull team and was then offloaded quickly by Lens after one year.

It sure is.
Some people are forgetting he came on as a sub in that first game in the premier League and was then sent off, meaning he was banned for the next 3 games.

I really liked Zaroury, but he was never going to be good enough for the Premier League. His first touch was there, but he doesn’t have the natural raw pace to go past many Premier League level full backs. I felt he became a bit of a one trick pony due to his cracking goal at Sunderland, which I don’t think he ever replicated?

Overall I felt we got a good deal for him.

Claretforever wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 04, 2025 12:13 pm

I really liked Zaroury, but he was never going to be good enough for the Premier League. His first touch was there, but he doesn’t have the natural raw pace to go past many Premier League level full backs. I felt he became a bit of a one trick pony due to his cracking goal at Sunderland, which I don’t think he ever replicated?

Overall I felt we got a good deal for him.

I would have said that Manuel Benson was more of a one trick pony but it is a hell of a trick.

ClaretTony wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 04, 2025 1:04 pm

I would have said that Manuel Benson was more of a one trick pony but it is a hell of a trick.

I loved watching Benson and Zaroury, but I think it’s clear now that they will both struggle with consistency.

Zaroury’s career just seems to be fizzling out - it’s almost 3 years since some of those electrifying performances in the autumn of 2022. Benson meanwhile just doesn’t seem to have been built to play football regularly. Even in that glorious season he missed several games and didn’t always start when he was fit. According to Transfermarkt he’s missed almost 100 games through injury since we signed him.

Woodleyclaret wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 04, 2025 2:14 am

Still one of our best players of recent times.It was a disgrace how VK treated him in his second season.

You’re quite right , though he treated others appallingly too like when a 20yr old Trafford was under shocking pressure , he’d also fell out with Muric and god only knows the state of the dressing room from Xmas onwards .

Find the post world-cup thing a load of crap really, seen as that FA Cup game against Bournemouth was after the WC.

VK changed system, and he had a slightly different role/responsibility. Still had stand-out games in the league (Norwich away)

Also find the Manuel Benson = one trick pony lazy. Set up quite a few goals with crosses from both feet, either cutting inside or getting to the byline, it just so happened that he scored 4 pretty much copycat incredible goals cutting in onto his left foot.

What about the screamer Benson scored last season with his right?

Need to remember how young Zaroury was when we signed him. When he got his chance in the first team he was brilliant. Great first touch, could shift the ball past his full back either way and a good delivery too.
For him to be picked for such a strong international squad as Morocco in the World Cup just shows you how good he was in that first few months - he came from nowhere to line up in a squad full of established players (some world class ones too)

That whole World Cup experience for such a young lad together with the intensity of the championship compared to what he was used to is bound to have an impact on most players. A bit of a dip in form was inevitable but he still put in some very good performances.

Benson had a brilliant season too - he was absolutely vital to us that season. Wasn’t just his goals and assists but it was how crucial they were and how he changed so many games when we brought him on as substitute. Terms like one trick pony I find laughable - in all my lifetime watching Burnley I have never seen one single player score so many quality goals in one season as Benson did that year. He was ridiculous.

If Parker would have been the manager of Burnley with Zaroury and Benson having the seasons they did I do not believe they would have been treated how they were by Kompany. They deserved much more of a chance than they got and I find it hard to believe that the knock in confidence they both got at a time when they should have been getting encouragement and development has not had an impact on their subsequent careers.

I don’t think this is a case for either of Kompany being proved right that neither were good enough based on what happened to them since…..I believe what has happened since is largely because of Kompany and the way he treated them both and a number of others too.

He was exciting to watch for a period but never kicked on.

Okay Wednesday were groggy but Benson was still capable - a few months ago- of scoring one of the best Burnley goals I've seen in recent years.