Adam Aznou's Everton Journey: The '304' with Lamine Yamal and playing for R9

It was a moment of pride and inspiration as Lamine Yamal showed the world where he came from and the place that had made him.

Still only 16, the Spain wonderkid had just scored a stunning goal against France in the semi-finals of Euro 2024. Making a beeline for the cameras, Yamal held his hands up and made the ‘304’ symbol with his fingers.

It’s an important figure as those three numbers make up the postal code of Rofaconda and it’s here where he and new Everton signing Adam Aznou Ben Cheikh grew up. Described by the Spanish press as a neighbourhood which has been ‘forgotten, isolated and stigmatised’, it is considered one of the most impoverished areas in Catalonia.

Based in the city of Mataro, located on the Maresme coast and nineteen miles from the centre of Barcelona, Rocafonda was built in the 1960s to accommodate immigration from southern Spanish regions and high tower blocks were thrown up to dominate the skyline. The mass arrival of people from Andalusia and Extremadura led to shortages of school places, poor roads and water supply and so in the 1970s, a neighborhood group was set up to bolster the area. By the 1990s, the inhabitants from the South of Spain had moved on to richer areas and foreign migrants arrived.

Born in June 2006 to Moroccan parents, it was here in Rocafonda that Aznou spent time growing up. Both his mother and father played a huge role in setting him up on the path to becoming a footballer. One of his first clubs was Centre d'Esports l'Hospitalet.

“Since I was little, my father has always helped me with everything; he took me everywhere, and thanks to him, I started playing football, for which I am very grateful,” Aznou said in an interview with ‘Lionstalk’. “My mother has always been there for everything I needed. I come from a humble and hard-working family.”

As ever, football provided youngsters in the local area with an outlet. However, the talent possessed by Aznou and Lamine Yamal, whose father Mounir Nasraoui also hailed from Morocco, provided the duo with a real opportunity.

Aznou’s journey to Everton, whom he joined today after signing a four-year deal with the Toffees, started with Club de Futbol Damm. Founded in 1954, it is dedicated to youth football. A ten-minute drive from the Nou Camp, a number of players including Cristiano Tello and Sergio Garcia have been developed by CF Damm before switching to Barcelona. It was in 2019 that Aznou also made the jump.

Joining La Masia, the famed Barcelona Academy where Gerard Deulofeu also spent his formative years, Aznou became a close friend and team-mate of Yamal. Playing left-back, Everton’s new signing has perhaps come up against the right winger more than anyone else as they progressed through the ranks together during their early teens.

While Yamal is now famous around the world and considered the ‘next big thing’ having scooped the Golden Boy award after winning two LaLiga titles and wowing crowds with his supreme skill and prowess, Aznou is less well known and perhaps not an instantly recognisable name to Evertonians. However, he is considered a massive talent in his own right and has been tipped to play at the very top so his arrival on Merseyside is a real coup considering where the Toffees are at right now.

The left-back spent three years with Barca before reportedly turning down a host of European giants including Juventus, Bayer Leverkusen and Benfica in order to join German giants Bayern Munich in the summer of 2022. Signing a long-term contract, Aznou, who had just turned 16, was immediately enrolled in the Bayern campus so that he could continue his studies alongside his football.

"Adam is a creative winger with a lot of offensive dynamism,” said Holger Seitz, sports director of the Bayern Munich youth academy. “He is fast, technically strong, strong in the game and strikes good crosses. We were convinced that he would come to strengthen our youth teams and, above all, that he still has development potential.”

A versatile operator and more than tidy in possession, Aznou was deployed as a left winger and even in the number six role under Bayern youth coach Michael Hartmann. He also captained the club in the UEFA youth league.

In March 2023, the youngster had caught the eye of Bayern boss Julian Nagelsmann and trained with the first-team for the first-time. Then, nine months later, under new manager Thomas Tuchel, Aznou featured on the bench as an unused substitute for Bayern’s 3-2 Bundesliga win at Augsburg. It was a huge step for a player who was still just 17 and, in place to deputise for Alphonso Davies or Raphael Guerreiro, it showed the faith the Bavarians had in Aznou.

In November 2024, Vincent Kompany handed Aznou made his senior debut for Bayern. With the side leading 3-0 against Union Berlin, the defender came on for the final ten minutes at the Allianz Arena, taking to the field alongside Harry Kane, Joshua Kimmich and Manuel Neuer.

Replacing Alphonso Davies, Aznou couldn’t hide his happiness at coming on in front of 75,000 fans and beamed with delight. The smile on his face was huge.

"I'm very pleased and proud," he said at full-time. "Bayern are one of the best teams in the world.

Staying grounded, Aznou added: "I have to be patient, keep working and keep at it.”

"Adam has done very well,” said manager Kompany after the young left-back’s maiden appearance. “In training, but also with the national team. And now, of course, it feels like we have an extra player to count on. He's young, he can be proud, his parents can be proud."

A month later, he got his first taste of Champions League action when he was introduced in minute 89 as Bayern won 5-1 against Shakhtar Donetsk at Schalke’s Veltins Arena.

Aznou had to wait until February for his next taste of action and it proved to be a major month for the defender. Appearing as a late sub in a 4-3 victory over Holsten Kiel at the start of the month, he then sealed a loan move to LaLiga with Real Valladolid. This was to be a character-building experience.

The White and Violets, owned by Brazil legend Ronaldo, were in crisis. Two weeks after Aznou’s arrival, the club appointed their third manager of the season and would lose fourteen of their final 15 fixtures, picking up just a single point. Rooted in the drop zone since August, they sank like a stone from the new year onwards and suffered a third relegation in seven years.

The 18-year-old left-back who joined halfway through the season was in no way to blame and the four months spent in north west Spain will have done him the world of good, providing him with 874 minutes on the pitch.

Despite the side’s poor run of form, Aznou was a rare bright spot, impressing with his skill, dribbling and ability to progress up the pitch with the ball. At times, he was functioning as a left midfielder and contributing to attacks.

It was on May 3rd that Aznou came up against his good friend Lamine Yamal in Valladolid. Out on the Jose Zorrilla Stadium pitch hours before kick-off, the pair laughed when they spotted each other and embraced before having a quick catch up. Soon after, they had their game faces on and were rivals in the heat of battle.

Taking on his former club Barcelona, Aznou was ultimately on the losing side but the two players going head-to-head in Spain’s top league marked a significant moment for the neighbourhood of Rocafonda back home.

After the game, Aznou insisted: "Lamine is the best player in the world right now.

"He enjoys playing against me and teasing me. We've been close for years, and I'm proud of everything he's achieving.”

On facing one of the best teams on the planet, Aznou admitted: "Physically, they're monsters. They kept the ball the whole time.”

In a 2024 interview with Bayern, Yamal said of Barcelona: “I was born and grew up there, lived in the city for 16 years and spent my childhood and youth there. Whenever I find the time, I try to spend a few days in the city.

“Every time I'm there, I meet up with friends. It's always great to see everyone again, especially as it doesn't happen that often now. I also know a lot of players from my time at Barça, with whom I get on very well and meet up from time to time. I'm still in contact with some of the boys from my (La Masia) cohort. I have a very good relationship with Lamine Yamal. We get on really well. Lamine and I played together at youth level for Spain for a few years and, of course, at Barça.”

While Catalonia is home and Aznou did appear for Spain at Under-16 and Under-17 level, his heritage is North African and he first played for Morocco as an Under 15. Then, in August 2024, having reverted back to the Atlas Lions following his short spell away, the defender received his first senior call-up for the September Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers. Earning his first cap against Lesotho, the youngster played the full ninety minutes in a late 1-0 victory.

In that international set-up, Aznou lines up with fellow full-back Achraf Hakimi and has said the Paris Saint-Germain Champions League winner is ‘like a brother’ to him while Brahim Diaz, formerly of Real Madrid, has also had an influence on his development.

“My national team teammates Brahim Díaz and Achraf Hakimi helped me a lot. Hakimi is now like a brother to me. They gave me the patience and calm that you need as a young player in your first steps in professional football.

“My brother Achraf has helped me since day one.When the (Morocco team) list came out, he sent me a message congratulating me and that was very nice of him. He is a really good person and a great captain.”

Morocco boss Walid Regragui is also keen for Aznou to continue his development and so deliberately left him out of the national team squad for international friendlies this summer to allow the defender a shot at featuring for Bayern at the FIFA Club World Cup.

“We received calls from several clubs about releasing players and we insisted on their presence,” he said. “But in Aznou's case, I allowed him to stay with Bayern. It's a major chance for him to earn his place at the Club World Cup.”

Bayern's sporting director Christoph Freund shared those sentiments and added: “Adam gained valuable experience at Real Valladolid and has developed very well. His consistent playing time proves that he has been able to hold his own at this high level. We now want to bring him closer to our first team at the Club World Cup so he can take the next steps.”

Out in the United States, however, manager Vincent Kompany afforded the youngster a total of only eight minutes playing time, bringing Aznou on in the emphatic 10-0 win over Auckland City of New Zealand. The left-back had to watch on from the bench as the Bavarians later took on Boca Juniors, Benfica, Flamengo and PSG.

The lack of games and perceived lack of trust may well have contributed to Aznou posing in an Everton shirt only a month later.

An ambitious individual, the desire to play every week is huge and while Kompany elected not to include him, David Moyes has a plan for Aznou to progress.

"Moyes talked with me, he spoke with me about the team and how he wants me. So I decided directly when I spoke with him," Aznou told Everton's official website at his unveiling. “I decided really quickly because of the words he gave me. He gave me confidence, so I decided to sign.”

Now being coached by one of the most experienced heads in the Premier League, the young defender has some giant names in his corner. From Lamine Yamal to Hakimi, he will be able to rely on some of the top players in the world for help and guidance. In fact, on the day he signed for Everton, he was joined by Nabil Hakimi, Achraf’s brother, who is an agent for Footfeel ISM, the International Sports Management agency looking after Adam.

It seems many at Bayern will be disappointed to see Aznou move on as he was highly-rated in Bavaria.

Board member for sport Max Eberl had previously said of the defender: "He is an extremely talented guy. He has an incredible amount of potential and that's why we're happy that he's now arrived at the professional level. Hopefully there will be many more games to come.”

Bayern Campus sporting director also said: "Adam is a creative winger with a lot of offensive drive. He is quick, technically adept, strong and provides good crosses. We are convinced that he will strengthen our junior teams and, above all, of his further development potential.”

Earlier this summer, the official Bundesliga website compared Aznou to Bayern team-mate Raphael Guerreiro and noted: “Aznou’s profile means he would slot in seamlessly (on the left), especially if it were as a direct replacement for the Portugal international. Both players are particularly comfortable going forward and are able to bring team-mates into play with pinpoint passes and crosses.

“Just like Guerreiro, Aznou likes to cut inside and occasionally slot into central midfield. The youngster could do with adding a few more goals to his game, but he certainly has the raw talent to succeed at the highest level.”

Meanwhile in April, the defender was linked with a return to Barcelona though reports insisted Bayern would likely not want to sell, further emphasising the impressive nature of Everton’s swift transfer business. Tipped for a giant future, Aznou will now get the chances required to realise his potential.

Everton matchdays will now see the walking down Regent Road in L3 after the Toffees left L4 and lining up at left-back will be the boy from postcode 304.

An Everton season ticket holder and football writer, you can subscribe to all of Ell Bretland's work at https://ellbretland.substack.com