Mohamed Ihattaren's Resurgence at Fortuna Sittard
Mohamed Ihattaren is building a career back from the brink in a place few expected: Fortuna Sittard.
On a tense afternoon against ADO Den Haag, the 24-year-old attacking midfielder dragged his side to a 3-2 win, scoring twice and setting up the other. It was the kind of performance that doesn’t just win a match. It changes a narrative.
His second goal felt like a statement. With Fortuna clinging to their lead, Ihattaren pounced on a defensive mistake, drove past his marker and unleashed a left-footed strike that crashed in off the underside of the crossbar. The ball bounced over the line, the stadium erupted, and the game was effectively done.
Five matches into the new season, his numbers already demand attention: three goals, two assists. Fortuna, a club more used to glancing nervously over their shoulders, sit fourth in the table.
Regular minutes, renewed purpose
The foundation for this resurgence was laid last season. In 2025/26, Ihattaren finally put together a sustained run of games in the Eredivisie, featuring 28 times for Fortuna, scoring six and assisting 10. For a player whose career had stalled and splintered across several countries, simply being on the pitch week after week represented a breakthrough.
Fortuna coach Danny Buijs, who has worked closely with him for 15 months, is determined to protect that progress. Speaking to ESPN, Buijs made it clear he wants to keep the noise down around his playmaker. The message is simple: less spotlight, more football. Ihattaren, he believes, needs to work quietly, away from the media glare, if he is to reach the level many once predicted for him.
From PSV prodigy to football’s wilderness
Those predictions came early. Born in Utrecht, Ihattaren burst onto the scene at PSV, where his touch, vision and swagger quickly caught the eye. In 2019, at just 17, he delivered such a commanding display against Ajax that former Netherlands international Pierre van Hooijdonk called him the best player on the pitch.
Then life intervened in the cruellest way. The death of his father in October 2019 hit him hard. Ihattaren later described his father as “everything” to him, and his form and focus never quite recovered in Eindhoven.
In 2021, he left PSV for Juventus on a four-year deal, a move that was supposed to launch him onto the elite stage. Instead, his career scattered. A loan to Sampdoria yielded not a single appearance. A subsequent spell at Ajax ended without a permanent transfer. In 2023, a proposed move to Turkish side Samsunspor collapsed, and at Slavia Prague he did not play a minute.
For a time, it looked like one of Dutch football’s brightest talents might simply fade from view.
A new chapter – and a new flag?
Now, in Sittard, the story has shifted. He is playing, producing, and slowly rebuilding both form and reputation. The international picture is changing too.
In 2025, Ihattaren declared his desire to represent Morocco at senior level. He had previously come through the Netherlands youth teams, but he has yet to make a senior appearance for either national side. The choice, when it finally arrives, will say much about the journey he has taken and the identity he wants to embrace.
For the moment, though, his focus is local, not global. Goals, assists, and regular minutes for Fortuna Sittard. After years of turbulence, that might be the most important victory of all.
