Adel Taarabt is hell but Martin Jol loves him

Above: Martin Jol is an admirer of

Fulham manager Martin Jol will give Adel Taarabt a special hug today after revealing: “He once saved me my job.”

QPR’s Moroccan midfield player, 22, was just a teenager when he played under Jol at Spurs but he came on to the pitch and scored a goal against West Ham to keep under-pressure Jol employed.

Jol moved to Hamburg after being finally sacked and his first move was to try to buy Taarabt.

“But they wanted too much money and he went to Rangers instead,” said Jol.

“I have always liked him. To me he is the most natural No.10 in football. Other players will tell you that.

“I called him the Whizzer. He has so much ability. I can also understand why Neil Warnock at QPR gets frustrated with him.

“He often had Spurs reserve team coach Clive Allen pulling out his hair. He’d get the ball and that would sometimes be the last you would see of it for a while.

“I have watched him recently and he seems to have adapted better. I was not surprised when Paris St-Germain wanted to buy him for big money. Adel is a leader.

“I’m enjoying my time back in England but I have learned teams need balance. You need the Aaron Lennons for pace, the Dimitar Berbatovs and the Danny Murphys. That’s is not so important abroad.

“I have also seen that English football is no longer a three-team league. It now goes down to five clubs, which you never get abroad.”