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Ten years ago, the WhatsApp groups of Algerian football fans would ping every weekend with the same message: ‘Did you watch Leicester?’
Had they seen Riyad Mahrez, their country’s newest star, dance through defences for these unknown, unfancied Foxes en route to their miraculous Premier League title?
They all kept watching and texting as Mahrez, now at Manchester City, won more trophies and more titles before, three years ago, he finally upped sticks and left for Saudi Arabia.
Now, however, there’s a new minnow capturing Algerian hearts and a new message doing the rounds every weekend: ‘Did you watch Hull?’
‘People are tuning in, people are following,’ Algerian football expert Maher Mezahi tells Daily Mail Sport. ‘Algerians have a new favourite team.’
And that, of course, is because they have a new winger to thrill them. Mohamed Belloumi – also known by his middle name Bachir, after his grandfather – scored both Hull goals at Stamford Bridge as the Tigers maintained their remarkable start to the Premier League season with a draw against Chelsea that kept them inside the top four.
He set up the winner against Coventry with a sublime pass with the outside of his boot for Liam Millar. Neither Luke Shaw nor Ian Maatsen for Manchester United and Aston Villa respectively had a quiet afternoon up against Algeria’s latest hot prospect.
Mohamed Belloumi has made an electric start to life in the Premier League with Hull - with his brace away to Chelsea earning the Tigers a point
'His personality really comes out with the ball at his feet,' says a Hull dressing-room insider of Belloumi. 'He’s a magician’
For the flock of new Algerian Tigers, Belloumi's rise is even more exciting. He is, after all, the son of Lakhdar Belloumi, widely considered the greatest Algerian player of all time. Lakhdar played 100 times for his country, even more if you count unofficial matches, and scored the winner in their triumph over West Germany in Algeria’s first ever World Cup in 1982.
‘We were the Brazilians of Africa,’ Lakhdar later declared. ‘We felt invincible and we didn’t fear anybody.’ His performances that summer inspired a teenage Eric Cantona.
Lakhdar is also credited, especially by himself, for ‘inventing’ the no-look pass. He is not a man shy in being forthcoming of his achievements. His son, on the other hand, is the opposite.
‘You don’t really notice him until he comes on the training pitch and then he’s sticking the ball through people’s legs in the rondos,’ one dressing room source tells Daily Mail Sport. ‘Then you see his cheeky side come out.’
‘He’s a really quiet, mild-mannered lad off the pitch but he comes alive when he’s on it. His personality really comes out with the ball at his feet. He’s a magician.’
His team-mates suspect Belloumi knows more English than he lets on and he regularly speaks in Arabic with the club’s physio Hashim Ali. Those around the training ground say they have seen a new, chattier side to his character since the transfer window closed, with Hull bringing in more players who speak French.
They talk, too, of a player who knows what it takes to get to the top. He spends a lot of time in the gym.
Belloumi, after all, was raised in the spotlight. Mezahi remembers seeing him on television at the age of six, sat next to his famous father being interviewed about his life, while Belloumi sat blinking blankly back at the presenter.
‘He’s grown up with his dad being a superstar and the mentality it takes to be an elite professional and that’s what he’s like around the place,’ adds the dressing room source. ‘He commits everything to becoming the best he can be.’
Those who have watched the 24-year-old throughout his career say he’s always had a killer instinct in the final third
Belloumi's father Lakhdar, who scored the winner against West Germany at the 1982 World Cup, is a hero of Algerian football
Belloumi still has a long, long way to go before he reaches the legendary heights of his father but their paths to greatness have already diverged.
Lakhdar, for one, never played in Europe. Barcelona head coach Helenio Herrera once tried to sign him but in those days Algerian players were not allowed to join foreign leagues until the age of 27 and they had to get permission from the country’s highest authorities, including the president himself.
Juventus wanted him, too, after Lakhdar shone in a friendly against them only for Libyan side Al-Ittihad to put a swift end to any hopes of that by fouling him so many times in an African Champions League clash that he broke his leg. Lakhdar, then playing for Algerian side GC Mascara, always believed it was deliberate but insisted he was happy to see out his playing days on home soil.
In the end, unlike his father, Belloumi Jr broke out. He started at MC Oran, one of his dad’s former sides. He had trials at clubs in France before joining Portuguese second-tier side Farense aged 19 and broke through the following season after their promotion. Those who have watched him throughout his career say he’s always had a killer instinct in the final third.
He’s different to his dad there, too. ‘If I could compare Lakhdar to anybody, he played a little bit like Luka Modric,’ says Mezahi. ‘A central midfielder that you simply could not press. He was comfortable dribbling around players. He played with his chest out. Very, very good with the outside of his foot.’
At least Belloumi’s assist against Coventry suggests there’s flashes of the old man in there. He is instead from the Mahrez mould. A left-footed winger on the right. He secured his move to Hull on deadline day two summers ago as the Tigers beat Leeds to his signature.
His time with Hull, though, has been blighted by injury. Little more than a month after scoring twice in a 4-1 win against Cardiff and being named the club’s player of the month for September, he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament and missed the rest of the season.
Hamstring and thigh injuries blighted him through Hull’s promotion campaign, too, but he showed in the play-off semi-final second leg against Millwall what he can do when he’s back fit, fresh and firing.
Belloumi came off the bench at half-time at the Den with the tie still goalless. He opened the scoring with a beautiful, curled left-foot shot to the far corner and set up Joe Gelhardt with another family trademark pass from the outside of his boot for the second, sending Hull to Wembley.
Belloumi in action against Manchester United on the opening day of the season, when he gave full back Luke Shaw a tough time
'Everybody knows that if he gets his head down, if he can stay fit, there's a huge future for him'
Lakhdar was in attendance at the MKM Stadium for the opening game of the season to watch his son’s Premier League debut against Manchester United.
Belloumi’s admired back home, too, for not taking the easy route. Many young and talented Algerians jump straight to the riches of Saudi Arabia but Belloumi has stuck it out, put in the hard yards, battled through injuries and is now thriving on the big stage.
His brace at Stamford Bridge made him the fifth Algerian to score twice in a Premier League match, and the first since Mahrez for City against Spurs in 2023.
He’s yet to make his national team debut, having twice been an unused substitute three years ago, and was named in Algeria’s long-list for the World Cup only to miss out on the final squad. But the feeling back home is that he’s one of several who represent hope for the future.
‘We recognise it's early days,’ adds Mezahi. ‘But I think anybody that's watched him play can see the potential. They know that if he gets his head down, if he can stay fit, there's a huge future for him.’
That sentiment is shared by those who work with Belloumi every day. ‘His ceiling is so high,’ says the dressing room insider. ‘He can go as far as he wants.’
