Has M’Baye Niang (for now) missed out on his career?

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M’Baye Niang in the footsteps of Xavier Gravelaine! Who would’ve believed that ? Except perhaps some Caen supporters since the two men have passed through Stade Malherbe in their lives. But unfortunately, for the moment, the most relevant commonality between the two attackers is quite different. And not necessarily glorious. Indeed, the Franco-Senegalese is walking in the footsteps of the most famous globetrotter of the French championship. With his signature at the Girondins de Bordeaux, he is already at nine clubs in ten years of career at only 26 years old while as a reminder, the former French international (four selections) has skimmed 16 in 16 years. If the latter has always more or less assumed his career, for the neo-Bordelais it looks above all (for the moment) like a huge mess.

Why ? Quite simply because M’Baye Niang was one of the most promising players of his generation. First match in Ligue 1 at 16 years and 4 months. Fourth youngest scorer in the history of the French championship (behind Krawczyk, Roussey and Maupay). “He has enormous potential, we’ve never seen that at the club,” said Philippe Tranchant, his U19 coach in Caen at the time. Not to mention his signing at 17 at AC Milan. A Mbappé journey on paper to remain in the comparisons. But it stops there since the truth of the ground is so far very different for the child of Mureaux, with a career made of many ups and downs. So is he missing out on this one?

“He was simply thrown into the lion’s den”

In any case, he will try to “relaunch his career” (an umpteenth time) as he says himself, aware of the “big opportunity that Bordeaux gives him” after months of hardship. And it is true that between a calamitous end of the adventure with Stade Rennais, an exotic loan to Saudi Arabia in recent months without almost playing (five games) and a still eventful summer around his future, it was time for him to find a new challenge. These last three Breton years are moreover a kind of small summary of the beginning of M’Baye Niang’s career. Capable of the best (14 goals / 7 assists in the first season and 15 goals / 2 assists in the second) as well as of the worst (conflict with his coach Julien Stéphan, sporting performance at half mast and therefore this improbable loan last season to Al -Alhy). The loan has also become a house specialty for the center forward over the years (Montpellier, Genoa, Watford, Torino…), a perfect illustration of his instability.

“I think that like many very young promising players, he did not have the codes and the rules of the environment at the start, explains his entourage, he was made walk on. M’Baye is a man who is far too kind and sentimental, which in this environment does not work. He was just thrown into the lion’s den. “And his multiple failed transfers (Marseille or Saint-Etienne recently) prove that it must not always have been all pink:” He always wants to please others, it’s a quality, but systematically too many people around. of him seek to take advantage of the situation. This was again the case for Bordeaux before everything returned to order, ”continues this close.

Talent is not enough

Still, the boy also tarnished his image a little on his own (and certainly his performances) with some not very judicious extra-sporting affairs, like his two car accidents in Montpellier and Milan. For the first, he was still sentenced to eighteen months in prison suspended with a ban on retaking the license for three years while the second stopped his best season in the Rossoneri jersey (eight goals and five assists in 21 games in the 2015/2016 season) due to an injury caused by it. A waste that he owes here only to himself.

“Nobody questions his talent but many think, on the other hand, that he is a problematic player,” says Mamadou Salif Diallo, head of the sports department of the Senegalese press agency, he must settle this at all costs to have a career at the height of his talent. ”Huge talent. So at 26 years old, even if it is not yet the hour of the last chance like a Hatem Ben Arfa last season, it is time for the principal concerned to “take again the pleasure” and quite simply to “play football again. “.

He cleaned up around him

Admar Lopes is now convinced “to have a much more mature player” in the hands and “that it is the right time for him to have a great season with us. The technical director of the Girondins wants to believe it. Mbaye Niang recalls in passing that he “is not there to change the opinion of the people”, on the other hand, he “promises to give the maximum” by repeating that “it is the ground the justice of the peace”. To achieve this, the striker has cleaned up around him in recent months. Exit his former agents and his historic lawyer, now it is his parents who manage his affairs. For his visit to Bordeaux, for example, they got closer to Badou Sambagué, lawyer and sports representative, whom he has known for several years and who played the role of facilitator in the case. The player, father of two children, has therefore decided to close his clan around his family to finally stop scattering.

His current state of mind also seems a pledge for the Girondins. The Franco-Senegalese international refused much more attractive offers from China, Mexico or Dubai to join Bordeaux. He even agreed to cut his salary by more than half. It is not neutral. With this state of mind, Mamadou Salif Diallo is convinced that the Bordeaux rookie “can still revive” with the Navy and White.

A player to restart

It remains to be seen in what physical state is he? On this subject, we hear anything and everything. Assures him to have spoken all summer in particular with a physical trainer despite being sidelined from the pro group in Rennes. Others speak of a player who is completely out of shape and overweight. As often, the truth is between the two. If he still has 3/4 kg to lose to regain his healthy weight, M’Baye Niang is in good physical condition. For example, it is very likely to see him play for a few minutes next Sunday (3 p.m.) against Monaco.

For him, the hardest part will be especially to find the rhythm. For a year, he has played little (17 games, including five since January) and his last official game dates back to May 7. The staff will therefore take advantage of the international break in early October to get him back on his feet completely. Then, it could become a formidable weapon for this Bordeaux team which begins to find itself (three games without defeat). His talent has not disappeared and especially his “different” profile from a Ui-jo Hwang for example, with “a big physical presence” as Admar Lopes underlines, will be a real asset for the Girondins. Like Hatem Ben Arfa exactly a year ago, Mbaye Niang is a gamble. If he will surely have to be patient for the supporters, he has no more time to waste, especially if he wants to finally have a career at the height of his talent.


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