(ICSouthLondon) TALAL EL Karkouri had one hell of a 2004 - and he's started 2005 in pretty impressive fashion, too.
After a successful year with club, Paris Saint Germain, and country, the Moroccan international sealed a dream £1million move to the Premiership with Charlton.
And things couldn't have worked out better for the 29-year-old.
After spending the first five games of the season on the bench waiting his chance, Karkouri forced his way into Alan Curbishley's midfield.
After a few masterful defensive displays in the midfield holding role, he was installed into his favoured central defensive position five games later.
He soon made himself a regular with some nononsense displays that shored up a leaky back-line. And two months later, he finds himself as one of the first names on Curbishley's team-sheet; and is topping the club's goalscoring charts with five goals to boot.
Many of those goals have been winners, and the last four have come in his last four games at The Valley. To put it mildly, the Charlton fans absolutely love him.
"2004 has been the best year of my life," said Karkouri.
"I will never forget it.
"I won the French Cup with PSG and finished runners-up in the league. Then with my country Morocco we had a superb African Nations Cup campaign and went all the way to the final where we lost 2-1 to Tunisia.
"Then I came to Charlton and have found it very enjoyable playing here. Now I have ended the year scoring lots of goals in the Premiership and got a couple early in this year. I am very, very happy with my life - it's been a dream start for me at Charlton."
Most people would be, with that phenomenal 12 months.
But as far as Charlton fans are concerned, it's the last few weeks that stand out. Karkouri has netted four times in home games in the last 26 days - add that to his Valley winner against Blackburn in September, and you can see why he's an early favourite for the Player of the Year Award.
Karkouri has good pace, is fearless in the tackle, reads the game well - and gets goals.
He's no slouch off the pitch either. He speaks seven languages - Arabic, Moroccan, French, English, Spanish, Italian and a bit of Greek.
Is there anything he can't do?
"I'm very glad to have scored the goals. It's important for the team," said the modest Moroccan.
"The main thing is that we get results and keep in a good position in the league."
Pushed further on his amazing goalscoring exploits - including a 35-yard blockbuster free-kick equaliser against champions Arsenal in the New Year's Day 3-1 defeat - Karkouri conceded: "It was great to score against such a big club.
"I just kicked the ball as hard as I could towards goal and maybe got a bit of luck.
"I have always scored some goals in a season with other clubs but never this many. It is a good run for me and I'm glad I made the move to Charlton.
"I'm settling down in London, the players here like me and I like them and the club. My previous experience at Sunderland in the Premiership has helped me even though that was with a club near the bottom of the table."
The Karkouri songs are heard echoing around the ground regularly. And with his long-range efforts at goal, chants of 'shoot' go up every time he crosses the half-way line.
"I've heard that," Karkouri laughed.
"It was surprising to me how much the fans chant my name.
"It's great and I just have to make sure I keep playing well to ensure my future at this club. But my job is to be a defender - that's what I must concentrate on first. If I get a goal, that's fine too.
"I've always gone forward at corners even in Morocco and when I played in France but I like to defend. This is what I'm best at."
El Karkouri has commanded the defence well. The communication at the back is better - still, you'd expect that from a multi-linguist.
"I think we've defended well as a team," he said.
"We all know more about how each other play. The communication is good - that's very important."
Having shored things up at the back, he's seen some nice football from his team-mates in front of him too.
"The mood is very positive at the club now because we are playing some good football, the players are working hard for each other and the movement is good.
"Earlier in the season we had some bad results - but I think a lot of the big defeats, especially away, were down to a terrible pre-season tour to China which left everyone tired. It was a bad trip."
But with Charlton seventh now, things are looking up.
"I think we must all try and compete in every game so that we can try to get into Europe," added Karkouri, who played in the Champions League with PSG.
"If we don't get into Europe this season I think we will next season. It's exciting - but that's why I came here."
And Karkouri's success in England hasn't gone unnoticed back in his homeland where he's becoming a bit of a media darling.
"The Premiership is big in Morocco and people can see every game," said Karkouri.
"And in the newspapers every week they focus on our players in Europe and how they're doing at their clubs.
"Because I've been scoring so many goals, I've been in it a lot with my pictures everywhere. I've even been on the front pages."
Charlton fans will hope Karkouri continues hitting the headlines - and the goals.