The midfielder was born in Switzerland’s second city Geneva and Zakaria’s footballing journey began close to home with Swiss side Servette. He rose through the ranks there, playing at Under-17 and Under-18 level before starring for their Under-21s in the fifth tier in 2014/15, alternating between centre-back and central midfield.

Those impressive performances from such a young player saw him handed his senior debut by Servette in November 2014, coming off the bench late on in a 3-1 win over Lausanne in the second division, 10 days before his 18th birthday. He was a regular among the substitutes for the rest of the season, before featuring in all of Servette’s last five games as they chased promotion. That included marking his first start in senior football by scoring the winning goal away at Wohlen and then opening the scoring in his next game against Schaffhausen.

However, at the end of the season, financial irregularities meant Servette were relegated to the third division despite finishing second in the table, meaning Zakaria was one of many players who left over the summer. His destination was Young Boys in the top flight. After a couple of substitute appearances, he was named in the starting line-up for their fifth league game of the season, and would remain there for the next 18 consecutive matches he was available for, missing just one through suspension.

Still only 19 years old, it was an explosive start to his senior career as he went from his full debut in the second division to a regular in a title-chasing side in the space of a few months, eventually earning a second-place finish in the Swiss Super League and European qualification. That was soon followed by another breakthrough with his international debut for Switzerland, coming off the bench in both their warm-up friendlies before Euro 2016, and then being a surprise inclusion in their squad for the tournament itself.

By his second season with Young Boys, Zakaria was one of the first names on the team sheet as they competed in the Europa League and again finished second in the Super League. However, his rapid rise for Young Boys and Switzerland had caught the attention of clubs abroad, meaning the then 20-year-old moved to Borussia Monchengladbach in Germany in the summer of 2017.

He went straight into the starting line-up at Monchengladbach, making 33 appearances during his first season in Germany, predominantly in the centre of midfield, while also increasing in importance for the Swiss national team. That was shown when he anchored their midfield over both legs of a World Cup qualification play-off victory over Northern Ireland and then played his first game at a major international tournament when Switzerland opened their 2018 World Cup by holding Brazil to a 1-1 draw.

Zakaria took another step forward during the 2018/19 season, as his athleticism was put to use as more of a box-to-box midfielder, rather than a holding player. That saw him begin to add goals to his game, netting four times in the Bundesliga in that campaign, including an important late equaliser away at Eintracht Frankfurt, as Monchengladbach ended the season one point ahead of those opponents to secure European qualification.

By now he was a key player for Switzerland too, starting every one of their games in qualification for Euro 2020, missing just the last 30 minutes of their last match against Gibraltar with their spot at the tournament already secured, in addition to playing in both matches at the 2019 Nations League Finals.

The upward trend continued into 2019/20, when Zakaria missed just one game – through suspension – in all competitions for Borussia Monchengladbach, until a serious knee injury suffered while filling in at centre-back against Borussua Dortmund in March ended his season prematurely.

The midfielder returned in late November, but was eased back into the action before becoming a regular starter again in January. That didn’t stop him getting his first taste of the Champions League proper, though, helping Monchengladbach progress from a difficult group which included Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Shakhtar Donetsk.

After helping Switzerland reach the quarter-finals of the delayed Euro 2020, Zakaria was a near ever-present for the Monchengladbach in the first half of last season, putting in a string of impressive performances and becoming one of only three Monchengladbach players to find the net in the league in each of his five campaigns in Germany.

However, with his contract expiring at the end of the season, he moved to Juventus in January, although there was still time for one more landmark as his final Bundesliga appearance was his 125th, making him the third-youngest player to reach that figure in the German top flight.

He announced his arrival in Italy by scoring on his debut for his new club, in a 2-0 Serie A win over Hellas Verona, and went on to make 13 appearances for Juventus in total, which included helping them reach the Coppa Italia final in May.