Georges-Kevin N'koudou: charting his rocket renaissance on RSL debut

Georges-Kevin N’Koudou may have found life tough going in the north of London, but he has found a home for himself in the south of Saudi Arabia.

The French-born Cameroon international has been one of the revelations of the 2023-24 Roshn Saudi League season after signing for Damac on a free transfer from Turkish giants Besiktas in August.

As the flurry of high-profile signings were made and announced, the move of N’Koudou went by relatively unnoticed. Despite playing for European heavyweights such as Tottenham Hotspur and Marseille, N’Koudou’s profile wasn’t anywhere near that of Karim Benzema, Neymar or Riyad Mahrez.

Damac, meanwhile, are a more modest club from Khamis Mushait in the south of the country near the Yemen border, who less than a decade ago were playing in the third tier of the Saudi football pyramid.

As the RSL glammed up, this move did not carry with it the glamor of the marquee additions to the competition. However, fast forward four months, and it’s now one of the hottest and most talked-about in the entire league.

The 28-year-old is arguably the RSL’s most in-form striker, with eight goals in his past five matches, which includes two braces and a hat-trick. He has 14 overall, behind only Cristiano Ronaldo and Aleksandar Mitrovic in the race for the Golden Boot. Esteemed company, indeed.

N’Koudou’s performances have helped propel Damac from second last after Round 6 to fifth position at very nearly the halfway mark of the season, just a point behind champions Al Ittihad.

It’s been some turnaround and one of the welcome news stories from the first half of the campaign.

A STAR ON THE RISE

After graduating from Nantes academy, the Versailles-born N’Koudou made his debut for the Nantes senior team at the age of 18 before attracting interest from Marseille, where he moved in 2015 in a deal worth around USD $1.5 million.

It was at the French giants that he first made a name for himself, earning a call-up to France’s Under-21 national team for their European qualifiers.

In a bitter-sweet moment, N’Koudou scored to secure a 2-2 draw for France against North Macedonia just two days after the Bataclan attack in Paris that claimed the life of one of his childhood friends.

While Marseille struggled in the 2015-16 Ligue 1 season, finishing 13th and a whopping 48 points behind champions Paris Saint-Germain, it was a positive one personally for N’Koudou.

Only 20, he cemented himself as a regular in the squad, finding the net five times and adding another four goals in the UEFA Europa League.

It was enough to attract the interest of some of Europe’s biggest clubs, with Manchester United and Liverpool both rumoured to be keen on the emerging star.

In the end it was Tottenham that secured N’Koudou’s services, almost by accident, after they spotted the youngster while scouting his Marseille teammate, Michy Batshuayi. While Batshuayi went to West London, joining Chelsea, N’Koudou headed to the capital’s north.

But his time there didn’t go to plan. N’Koudou struggled for game time in Mauricio Pochettino’s exciting young side, and spent a couple of years out on loan. In 2019, he was eventually sold to Turkey’s Besiktas.

"Maybe for him it's a struggle to take the opportunity for different reasons,” Pochettino said at the time.

“Maybe perhaps because I prefer to play with another player and not that he's good or not good. But it's because I decide to play with different players than him."

To his credit, N’Koudou saw it as a learning opportunity.

“Even though our story wasn't the one I hoped for when I arrived here, I still feel like I learned a lot, as a player and as a man,” he tweeted.

TURKISH DELIGHT

After a challenging few seasons in England, the move to Turkey offered N’Koudou a fresh start - and it’s one he relished.

The high point came in the 2020-21 season, with his eight goals helping Besiktas to the Turkish Super Lig title on goal difference ahead of Galatasaray.

Across four years in Istanbul, he scored 21 goals in 108 matches, revitalising a career that had stuttered significantly until that point.

“I would like to thank the fans who are the heart of this club, all my brothers who fight on the field, my coaches, my technical team and the management for everything,” N’Koudou shared on social media when his departure was confirmed.

“It was a great period where I won 3 trophies and I will always be proud. It was an honor for me to play for Besiktas.”

It was during N’Koudou’s time in Turkey that his international career blossomed as well. Having accepted the overtures from Cameroon to switch his international allegiance, the former France U21 forward was named in their squad for last year’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

“A kid’s dream” is how he described his selection for The Indomitable Lions, with N’Koudou featuring off the bench in a 1-0 loss to Switzerland and a thrilling 3-3 draw with Serbia.

He scored his first goal for Cameroon in the most recent international window in November in a 3-0 win over Mauritius, and was in line to be selected for next month’s Africa Cup of Nations, as long as his recent injury proves no obstacle.

SHINING IN SAUDI

While N’Koudou didn’t take long to open his account for Damac, scoring in just his second game for the club, his early fortunes mirrored that of his club.

Only two goals in his opening six matches was an OK start to life at his new club, who were languishing near the foot of the table after going without a win in the first seven matches of the season.

It is perhaps not how he envisaged his time in Saudi Arabia, but from that point on it was like a switch had been flicked.

Whether it was just a period of adaptation or something else, N’Koudou has been a goalscoring machine ever since, with 13 goals in his past 11 games. As he has blossomed, so too Damac: they have a single defeat in that same period.

Yet, if N’Koudou’s first goal in new colours hinted at what was to come - he struck a stunning free kick in a 1-1 draw with Al Shabab - we shouldn’t be surprised at the quality of his notches since.

The space on the edge of the penalty box has become N’Koudou’s danger zone - just run through his streak of spectacular goals - while he has also been cool from the spot as Damac’s nominated penalty taker.

What’s been evident, though, is how much his confidence has grown over the past few months with each goal that hits the back of the net. And that soaring self-belief is breeding even more success.

N’Koudou’s recent run of eight goals in four matches was not only scintillating to witness, it underlined his status as one of the most potent attackers in the league.

His signing may have gone under the radar in August, but now he is anything but. Rather, net-finder N’Koudou has established himself as one of the bonafide stars of the RSL.