Ayari: Hurzeler showed faith in me

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Sweden international featured regularly for Fabian Hurzeler during 2024/25 campaign.

Bruce Talbot

2025-06-09T06:00+01:00

Yasin Ayari scored a wonderful goal against Liverpool in our penultimate game of the campaign. 📷 by Simon Roe.

Midfielder Yasin Ayari has made a big impression after a tough season on loan in the Championship. He reflects on his time in England's second tier and his first full campaign in the Premier League.

Are you surprised how well you’ve adapted to the Premier League, bearing in mind you suffered two frustrating loans in the Championship last season?

Yasin Ayari’s first Sky Blues goal! 🇸🇪 pic.twitter.com/Hxrd2I4p5P
— Coventry City (@Coventry_City) September 25, 2023

Everything is about timing in football. Last season, nobody really believed in me to be completely honest. But I was lucky and came back in the summer to a coach [Fabian Hurzeler] who had faith in me. Looking back, when I went on loan [to Blackburn and Coventry City] last season I had the wrong mindset. I thought, “I will cause chaos now” and things did not go well. I think everyone knows that I can play football, I’ve proven that. But maybe mentally I may have thought I wasn’t that good, I was in a bad period thinking there was something wrong with me.

How did you get your confidence and self-belief back?

I stopped analysing everything and thinking I was doing something wrong off the field in my preparation. You have to find a balance. People think I’m crazy because I watch so many games, regardless of the clubs playing or the league. So, I stopped that and disconnected from football a little bit.

How important was Fabian Hurzeler in that process?

Yasin Ayari listens as Fabian Hurzeler speaks during the pre-season tour of Tokyo in 2024.

He has helped a lot. Fabian is a young coach so it is easier to have a connection. With Roberto [De Zerbi] it was more that you had to respect him and his way of thinking. I think Fabian understands a little more how we think. He knows what to do to make the group and us as individuals feel good. He is so supportive and has great ideas as a coach, and he said some positive things about my attitude and desire to improve every day, which definitely helped my confidence.

As one of the handful of Swedes playing in the Premier League do you feel you go under the radar a bit?

I speak quite often with [Sweden head coach Jon Dahl Tomasson. I met him in London and we had a good talk, but he is like that with all the Swedish players in the Premier League, he makes us feel important and that no one should feel bigger than anyone else. I’m also close to [Spurs] Dejan Kulusevski and he helped me a lot when I was in a tough period. He moved away from home when he was 14 and he knew that this time would come at some point, which is what’s happened to me this season.

What’s the next step for you in terms of your role in the team?

Yasin Ayari scored two wonderful goals against West Ham and Liverpool. 📷 by James Boardman.

It’s definitely to try and score more goals, I’m a bit passionate about it! I know I have an eye for a pass and an eye for a goal and since I was little I have always scored lots of goals and made lots of assists. When we played at Ipswich earlier in the year I ended up a lot higher up the pitch, almost as a No10 in an attacking sense. I feel comfortable when I get into those goalscoring situations and when you look at my expected assists I’m pretty high up. The coach tells me to “do what I’m good at” so I’m sure the goals and assists will come.