Mohamed Ihattaren’s Revival at Fortuna Sittard
Mohamed Ihattaren is rebuilding his career in the Netherlands, and on nights like this, it looks like he’s in a hurry to make up for lost time.
The 24-year-old attacking midfielder produced a decisive performance for Fortuna Sittard against ADO Den Haag, scoring twice and adding an assist in a breathless 3-2 win that underlined both his growing influence and his team’s ambitions.
A Match Turned by One Man
Fortuna needed a spark. Ihattaren supplied it, again and again.
He created one goal and finished two himself, dragging his side over the line in a game that never quite settled. His second strike, reported by The National (UAE) as the moment that effectively killed off ADO’s resistance, summed up the new edge to his game.
He pounced on a defensive mistake, glided past a defender and unleashed a left-footed shot that crashed off the underside of the crossbar before dropping over the line. No fuss. No doubt. A statement finish from a player who once looked lost to the top level.
That brace takes him to three goals and two assists in just five matches at the start of the new season. Fortuna, powered by his resurgence, have climbed to fourth in the table and suddenly look like a side with a genuine creative fulcrum.
Regular Football at Last
For Ihattaren, the numbers tell a story of something even more important than form: continuity.
In the 2025/26 Eredivisie campaign, he finally put together a full season of regular football. Twenty-eight league appearances, six goals, 10 assists. After years of interruptions, false starts and stalled moves, he stayed on the pitch and in the team.
Fortuna coach Danny Buijs, who has worked closely with him for 15 months, knows what that stability means. Speaking to ESPN, Buijs made it clear he wants to keep the noise down around his playmaker. Less spotlight, more work. Less hype, more minutes.
The message is simple: if Ihattaren wants to reach his goals, the focus has to stay on the pitch, not on the headlines.
From Prodigy to Uncertainty
That focus once seemed guaranteed.
Born in Utrecht, Ihattaren burst through at PSV as one of the brightest talents in Dutch football. In 2019, at just 17, he dominated a clash with Ajax so completely that former Netherlands international Pierre van Hooijdonk called him the best player on the pitch. It felt like the start of a long, straight road to the top.
Then life intervened. The death of his father in October 2019 hit him hard. Ihattaren later described his father as “everything” to him, and his career soon reflected the weight of that loss.
He left PSV in 2021 and signed a four-year deal with Juventus, a move that should have launched him onto the European stage. Instead, it marked the beginning of a turbulent spell. A loan to Sampdoria produced no appearances. A stint at Ajax ended without a permanent transfer. In 2023, a proposed move to Turkish club Samsunspor collapsed, and he never played a minute for Slavia Prague.
For a while, the story became one of what-ifs and missed chances.
A New Direction – Club and Country
Now, in Sittard, the narrative is shifting again.
He has a coach who backs him but shields him, a club that gives him minutes rather than promises, and a league that already knows his talent. The early-season form suggests he is responding with the one thing that matters: end product.
There is another chapter still unwritten. In 2025, Ihattaren declared his intention to represent Morocco at international level. He has worn the shirt of the Netherlands at youth level, but has yet to debut for the senior national team of either country.
If this resurgence continues, that choice will move from theoretical to urgent. Which shirt will he be wearing when the call finally comes?
For now, Fortuna Sittard are the ones benefiting from his answer on the pitch. And if he keeps striking the crossbar and in-off like this, the debate about his future won’t stay quiet for long.
