French Ligue 1 club Toulouse have confirmed the return of Morocco forward Zakaria Aboukhlal to training after his initial suspension for reported altercations with the mayor of Toulouse, Madame Laurence Arribage.
Toulouse confirmed on Thursday that they have completed an investigation of the matter and there was a meeting between Madam Arribage, Aboukhlal and the club management to resolve the allegations that were made by French publication, RMC Sport on Monday.
The club statement read: “Following our internal investigation and the many resulting discussions, a meeting between Madame Laurence Arribagé and our player Zakaria Aboukhlal took place in the presence of the Club’s management.
“Following this meeting, we concluded that the facts reported by RMC Sport did not really reflect what happened on April 30 at the Capitol. Consequently, we confirm that the investigation carried out by the Toulouse Football Club is now closed and that the player returns to the squad as of today. The Club will not comment further.”
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Suite à notre enquête interne et aux multiples discussions qui en ont résulté, une rencontre entre Madame Laurence Arribagé et notre joueur Zakaria Aboukhlal a eu lieu en présence de la direction du Club.À la suite de cette réunion, nous en avons conclu… pic.twitter.com/pB6qDODHlx
— Toulouse FC (@ToulouseFC) May 18, 2023
Aboukhlal has been at the centre of controversies in France in the past few days after refusing to play in Toulouse’s matchday 35 outing against Nantes due to the league’s anti-homophobia campaign.
The 23-year-old Morocco international who moved to Toulouse from Dutch club – AZ Alkmaar in June 2022, has had a decent start to life in the Ligue 1 with eight goals in 34 games so far.
Aboukhlal could be in contention for Toulouse’s trip to Nice on Sunday. Les Violets currently occupy the 13th spot in the Ligue 1 standings with 43 points after 35 games.
