It is striking to realize that for a player who was recently named the USL Championship Player of the Month for April (and being the youngest player in the League’s history to receive the honor) and is among the League leaders in goals (8), shots (23) and created chances (15), Abdellatif Aboukoura has been playing with Loudoun United for awhile now, turning pro a little more than four years ago. The first thing fans saw even at that time was his goalscoring prowess; with four in just more than 500 minutes of action with Loudoun, it was good enough for second on the team in 2022, he even talked about his play at that time.

We spent some time with the 20-year-old Egyptian recently, where things began with some more detail about his origins: “I remember joining the (D.C. United) Academy in January 2018, I was 13 years old and joined the U-15s. I had a two and a half years with the Academy, then COVID hit, then in my final year of the Academy, me and a few others got called up to start training with Loudoun before preseason. Training went well and I ended up getting called up full time to Loudoun during the preseason. In March 2021, I had my debut first game of the season against Miami. I was 16, so I was young and learning so much under Ryan (Martin), who I already knew from the Academy and had trained with him before, but learning at a professional level and making that jump was amazing. 2022 was good, started off a little rough with some injuries here and there, but then went to the (Egyptian) national team, came back, scored a few goals. (At) the end of 2022, I decided to go to Europe, trialed with a few clubs in Italy, but I couldn’t sign a contract there and decided to come back. That’s when I reached out to Ryan, and he gave me another chance with Loudoun.”

Aboukoura’s movement through the D.C. organization was slightly different compared to other Academy notables. “Honestly, it happened really quick. I remember it was near the end of the Academy at Christmas break. D.C. United didn’t have a U-19, the U-17 was the last age group, and I was 16 at the time. So I remember thinking, ‘What’s the next step?’ We hadn’t heard anything from Loudoun at the time, there wasn’t much communication. And I remember specifically, me and my family were in a movie theater and I got an email saying I’d been called up to train with Loudoun. I didn’t have time to talk to any of the older guys about it, but for me it just made sense to transition from Academy to pro level and at home, it happened before I could really think about any other situation.”

Aboukoura’s opportunity didn’t give him much time to talk it over with some of the older Academy alumni, but he does remain in touch with them. “The one that probably helped me the most and I’m still in touch with very often now is Ted Ku-DiPietro. He was already with Loudoun and had one or two pro years already so when I came up, he kind of took me under his wing. Jacob (Greene) and Jeremy (Garay) were both at Loudoun, I got to know Moses (Nyeman) and Kevin (Paredes) through the Academy, and Griffin (Yow) as well. But Ted had already gone through that progress, and I think the way he eventually made it to the higher level is a little similar to me.”

Aboukoura’s observation about being similar to Ku-DiPietro in terms of his developmental evolution comes into focus when one considers his time away from Loudoun. “I think after 2023, where I was in Europe for quite a bit of time and I was training with Serie A teams, it was going well, but I had gone a long time without official game time, and I quickly realized that for me to progress you have to be playing in pro games. And I thought, where better to do that than with Ryan Martin and with Loudoun. I already knew the system, the coach, the staff, that would let me be back at home and get going again. So when I came back for preseason, I signed an Academy contract, and I told Ryan, ‘Let’s see where this goes.’ Thankfully, it went well, I got a pro contract offered, and we both have the understanding that the only focus is whatever game you have on the weekend, not to think about next season, not to think about the future. Even when I did sign a kind of longer term contract, it was, let’s just maximize the rest of the 2024 season and that’s it. I didn’t really talk with him about full season, or next season, or even after I signed Pro, it kind of was always just one game at a time.”

Following the signing of that two and a half year contract with Loudoun last August, Aboukoura was placed into the Loudoun attack for a stretch of games critical to Loudoun’s playoff chances. “I think Ryan always allows his players to be in the spotlight. At the end of last year and especially this year, I realized that with the training I’ve been doing, with the offseason I had, he’s allowing me to do what I want under certain circumstances, if that makes sense. I don’t over complicate it, and I think that’s the best thing about Ryan, is that he allows everyone to really play with a smile.”

“I think (last) fall was actually really important for him,” Tommy McCabe said. “We had some important games at the end of the season and after talking with him, personally I think he felt that he didn’t do his job to the capability that he thought he could to help us get to the playoffs. He took that very personally and wanted to improve in the offseason physically and mentally. I think what you’re seeing now is someone who did the work in the offseason, has continued to grow, has a strong personality, and at his age, is willing to take games over and take the responsibility and that’s pretty brave.”

The Loudoun that Aboukoura rejoined was certainly a different one that what he saw when he last played; “The group that we have years compared to the group in ’22 is a lot more experienced, a lot more professional. Back then, the average age was 20-21 now the average age is a lot higher. Guys here have won the USL and MLS, so the experience is much different which helps me, because being a young guy, I get to learn. Obviously, training with someone like Chris and with the other pros I was with, seeing what they do on a daily basis, how they prepare themselves, has helped me try and become my own pro. I think that is why I’m doing well this year, because I understand what and who I am.”

The “Chris” Aboukoura mentions is D.C. United forward Christian Benteke, and the training was notable for Aboukoura’s training partners and location (Dubai). “Obviously, training with someone like Chris is unbelievable. Getting to see him day in, day out of what he does, especially during the off season, because during offseason, you tend to fall into daily habits. To see how professional and how sharp he always was, even two, three months out from the beginning of preseason was unbelievable. I got to learn so much under him and under the other pros that I got to meet and train with in Dubai. I think the thing I worked on most was to get my body correct, to make sure to come into this year checking off all the boxes. The other thing that I worked on was maybe more of a mentality that I wanted to clean up on and touch up on. I have family that lives in Dubai, my dad and my grandpa live there. So for me to be with them kind of just was very nice.”

Aboukoura worked on other aspects of his game. “I think that off the ball movement, was something that I knew I had to work on, and I sat there and watched video of what I was doing wrong and how I could fix it. That’s something that Ryan and Victor (Lonchuk, Loudoun’s first assistant) helped me with. I think there was still a lot of room to improve in that area, but it’s been working so far. I think just to keep learning and to keep moving, even someone in a similar position on the team like Flo (Valot) and the way he puts himself into positions during the game, to be able to learn from him helps me a lot.”

McCabe added, “For me, the best thing about him is that he’s just a very good person. He’s very easy to work with, to enjoy the game with and to enjoy life with. He’s very happy and wants to continue to get better, and for me, I’ve got all the time in the world for people like that.”