The appeal to a football player who has been injured during a match and is starting to think about his uncertain future is almost always the same: a kiss and a few words of consolation from teammates, sometimes from rivals, a pat on the back. from the coach and the rest of the team, warm applause from the stands when leaving the field.

This is perhaps the most encouraging message for his brief return, the support but above all the belief in his abilities.

For Omar El Kadurion Sunday, things were … something like this.

When, at 17 minutes, he lay down on the grass, removing his shingles, the scene was reminiscent of his previous unsuccessful moments. From the 10th minute, when he made a sign to Lucheskos for a change, he knew very well that this time Toumba would not accept him. And it didn’t fall out. Heading to the bench, he burst into tears, and from the podium, applause, along with the whistle of disapproval, formed conflicting sounds and emotions.

It was not the first, not the second and not the third, but probably the last time his fans PAOK they will see the Moroccan leave the field they are supporting. A rare talent who, at his best football age, at 27 years old, and an active player in the national team of his country, came to Thessaloniki having excellent experience in the championship (Brescia, Naples, Turin, Empoli).

The fact that he signed a four-year contract in which PAOK paid Empoli 1.3 million euros for his purchase, himself a million a year and his big agent Mino Raiola 500,000 euros in commissions, was a tangible sign that on him, people PAOK relied on a lot.

What they didn’t know, or if they knew, they could never have imagined how much this would hinder his black-and-white career, was his vulnerability to injury.

In the summer of 2017, when his name was also circulating in PAOK’s transfer scripts, only one word escaped his lips on the agents’ square: “glassy”…

PAOK invested heavily in him for six years, gaining very little from his great talent. His contract expires next June and will not be renewed as it contains the condition that in order to activate the option for another year, he must reach the participation limit of 50% of all PAOK games that year.

The team has already played 37 matches in all competitions, Kanduri has 19 matches (7 in total in the starting XI) and has eight more matches left, including the final of the Greek Cup, in which the player is likely to miss.

The Moroccan has only been linked with injuries during his important PAOK assignment and if it wasn’t for one of Lucescu’s biggest weaknesses, he would probably have said goodbye a long time ago.

In six years of presence, out of 105 major matches, he got to 90 minutes in just 46. Everyone will remember how he went to the bench, with bitterness on his face and tears in his eyes for an impossible goal. Yes, and he himself doubts whether he still has enough mental reserves to pass other tests or whether he will hang up his shoes once and for all …