Nayim

Barcelona and Tottenham

At the age of 12, Nayim left his hometown of Ceuta and joined FC Barcelona's youth academy La Masia. He broke into the first team under Terry Venables, but had very few opportunities due to 18 months of injuries. The same manager took him to Tottenham Hotspur in November 1988 originally on loan, making him the first Spaniard to play in English football since the Basque child refugee Emilio Aldecoa in 1947. Having initially spent several weeks waiting for a work permit, he signed the following year for £400,000 as part of the deal that took Gary Lineker in the same direction; his first goal for the club came in a 2–0 away win against Southampton, and he also found the net in Spurs' 3–0 home victory over West Ham United. On 25 October 1989, Nayim scored a free kick in a 3–0 win away to Manchester United, which put pressure on their manager Alex Ferguson. He made a total of 23 appearances in 1989–90, helping Tottenham to a third-place finish. The League Cup offered him his first experience of English cup competition, playing four games en route to the quarter-finals and scoring three times. The following season proved to be Nayim's most successful in English football. Although the team finished tenth, he appeared in 33 league matches and netted five times; his path to a Wembley final was again halted at the League Cup semi-final but, in the FA Cup, they overcame Nottingham Forest 2–1 in the final, with the player replacing injured Paul Gascoigne…

Nayim is of Moroccan descent. He is also a practicing Muslim and was the only player of his faith to appear in the inaugural Premier League season. The eldest of his three children, Youssef, pursued a football career in the same position. In 2006, the Aragonese village of Trasmoz named a street 'Gol de Nayim' ('Nayim's Goal').

Tottenham

FA Cup: 1990–91 FA Charity Shield: 1991 (shared) Zaragoza

Copa del Rey: 1993–94 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1994–95 Spain U20

FIFA World Youth Championship runner-up: 1985