Torino forward Zakaria Aboukhlal enters the summer of 2026 under new management, with the Granata confirming Ignazio Abate — the former Milan defender who led Juve Stabia before joining the Turin club — as their head coach, replacing D'Aversa. The appointment is official. The slate, for Aboukhlal and everyone else at the club, is now blank.
The significance for the 26-year-old Moroccan is considerable. He finished the 2025-26 Serie A campaign with zero goals and zero assists across 15 appearances, an average rating of 6.60, and an AI overall score of 56 out of 100 with a potential ceiling of 64. That gap between current output and projected ceiling is the most interesting number attached to his name right now — it suggests a player whose best football has not yet arrived in Turin, but whose window to produce it is narrowing with each goalless season.
Torino's collective numbers frame the problem clearly. The Granata closed the season in 12th place with 44 points from 37 matches, scoring 42 times while conceding 61. A side that leaks nearly two goals per game and scores barely more than one is not a platform from which forwards build reputations. Aboukhlal's blank contribution is damning on its own terms, but it did not occur in a functioning attacking system.
Abate arrives with a mandate to reshape the squad's identity. Whether Aboukhlal features in those plans is an open question, and the summer transfer window will sharpen it quickly. A forward who turns 27 in February and carries a modest output record has limited leverage in contract discussions, but the potential rating in the data suggests scouts and coaches still see something worth developing.
The club has also confirmed that pre-season preparations will be held in Pinzolo, with Gazzi taking over as team manager. The structural changes are real and broad. For Aboukhlal, the most consequential question is whether Abate sees him as part of the rebuild or as one of the pieces moved on to fund it.
A season of 15 appearances and nothing on the scoresheet is not a career verdict, but it demands a response. Abate's arrival gives Aboukhlal exactly one pre-season to make the argument that the gap between 56 and 64 is closeable in granata.