Huddersfield Town have confirmed the signing of Karim Matmour. The Algerian international has signed on a free transfer after leaving his previous club, Al-Arabi of Kuwait. He signs a deal until the end of the season, with the option of extended that for a further year.
The 30-year-old will wear the number ten shirt whilst at the John Smith’s Stadium and is something of a transfer coup for the club. Not only does he have 30 international caps, but he has appeared nearly 300 times in German club football inside the top two divisions. He began his career at SC Freiburg, before moving on to Borussia Monchengladbach, Eintracht Frankfurt and then FC Kaiserslautern.
Huddersfield Town Head Coach David Wagner describes him as a very versatile offensive player that is capable of playing in a number of positions. He said he is capable of playing ‘on the right, one the left, as a number ten or number nine’. He revealed that he is a player he knows very well and is delighted to welcome him to West Yorkshire,
“Karim is a good player, who I know very well from his time in Germany. He is quick, has great endurance and is a very good person also, which is very important. It is not normal that we would be able to get a player of his quality with no transfer fee.
He knows the ideas we want to bring onto the pitch and should only need a couple of weeks for his fitness to be ideal; he has been training with Strasbourg for some time and is like Jonathan Hogg in that his base of fitness is very good. This is one of his main qualities. His English is also good, which is important.”
Speaking to HTTV, Matmour revealed that he cannot wait to get started to life at a new club, in a different country,
“I am very happy to sign here. I played many games against English teams, I played against the English national team at the World Cup in 2010, I’m very excited to come to England and to play.”
Matmour has received international clearance, meaning that he is eligible to make his Terriers debut this weekend, if deemed fit enough to be involved. Huddersfield make the trip to play-off contenders Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.
