This is taken from the GFFN 100, our leading 150-page FREE publication ranking the best 100 players in France, see the full list and read every profile right here.
Without a club at the age of 15, Youssouf Fofana almost quit football entirely on two occasions by the age of 17 and he only signed his first professional contract at the age of 19. Until September this year, the now 23-year-old had never been called up to the France squad but travelled to Qatar with France just two months later.
In the words of Fofana, he left through the “small door” of France’s national academy, Clairefontaine, and returned through the “big door”. At 18, the Monaco midfielder left academy club INF Clairefontaine with his dreams of becoming a professional footballer in tatters. Retrospectively regretful of his misplaced assumption that, by virtue of where he was, he would make it in the game regardless of the work he put in, his World Cup call-up was a recognition of a hard but ultimately fruitful self-reflection.
Having delivered pizzas to make money as a teenager and having devoted himself to his studies since leaving Clairefontaine three years prior, Fofana was given a second-chance by Strasbourg. Following a trial at the Alsace club, he was offered a chance to play with the reserve side, an opportunity he steadfastly seized. However, in that moment, there was a newfound determination – a result of the previously squandered opportunity. “The owners at Strasbourg told me: “We’re going to put in place a train ticket system so that your family can come often.” But I told them very clearly: “No, thank you. They’ll come and see me when I’ve signed a professional contract, and not before,” Fofana told L’Équipe earlier this year.
Since, Fofana has enjoyed an incremental rise, firstly at Strasbourg where he spent just one year with the professional squad, racking up 41 appearances, and then at Monaco. Since joining the Principality side in January 2020, Fofana has made 115 appearances, and is now enjoying his best season yet. Last season, Fofana was overshadowed by his midfield partner Aurélien Tchouaméni, now a France team mate, but, following the former Bordeaux midfielder’s €100m move to Real Madrid, Fofana has flourished, or perhaps more accurately, he is being increasingly recognised.
Earlier in the season, Monaco sporting director Paul Mitchell reflected on Fofana’s performances, telling Get French Football News’ Luke Entwistle, “I think Aurélien was rightly recognised for some really big and important performances with us last season, and maybe the shadow was cast too much over the quality of Youssouf’s performances for this club, not only last season but the season before.” Tchouaméni is undoubtedly a world class player, his enormous transfer fee is a testament to that, as is the way in which he has quickly become irreplaceable, not only on a domestic level in Madrid, but also internationally with Les Bleus. However, as Mitchell told GFFN, “there was always a second actor in that midfield configuration.”
This season, in Tchouaméni’s absence, Fofana needed to step up, and he has. Throughout last season, and the start of this, he has taken on the mantle of being Monaco’s progressive force from deep in the midfield. In that sense, in a midfield pivot, he’s the perfect compliment to a more traditional number six, a role Tchouaméni can play and one that Mohamed Camara has been seen used in at Monaco since his arrival from RB Salzburg this summer. The stability provided by playing alongside a well-performing number six, has allowed Fofana’s quality to shine. Like all players to an extent, Fofana is a system player, whose slick functioning is contingent upon the correct pieces being placed around him.
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Tchouaméni and Fofana can certainly be described as mutually complementary pieces, many expected them to start together for France at the World Cup as a result. Although Adrien Rabiot was eventually preferred in Didier Deschamps’ midfield, just making the 26-man squad represented a stratospheric rise for a player whose career was almost over before it ever began.
From out of the blue, Fofana has found himself in what would have seemed like an improbable scenario even just a few weeks ago, of being in contention to start at a World Cup for the reigning champions. Given the speed of his emergence as an international-level player, it would be reasonable to assume that Fofana got carried away when hearing his name during Deschamps’ televised squad announcement. But his irregular pathway has taught him to react differently. “I told myself that, in a career, you can’t aim higher than playing in such a big competition like the World Cup with the French national team. I thought about everything that I came through to get here. That allowed me to come back down to earth and keep clear-minded,” said Fofana following his selection.
Whilst Fofana believes that his selection perhaps changes people’s perception of who he is as a player, he says that that doesn’t bring added pressure. In such a whirlwind environment as a the French national team, blocking out external and internal pressures will determine whether or not he’ll be a success. Should his trajectory continue, playing in such exhalated company will soon become the norm.
Luke Entwistle | GFFN