Opinion | Anthony Martial, Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele prove Paris is most fertile ground for future football superstars
- No one has scored more than PSG’s World Cup winner among Europe’s top leagues
- Manchester United winger shows another glimpse of ability with two goals against Chelsea
Saturday brought mixed fortunes for Anthony Martial, 22, Kylian Mbappe, 19 and Ousmane Dembele 21, three magnificent, speedy, young French wingers born and raised in Paris or its hinterland, whose combined last transfer fees totalled €400 million (HK$3.6 billion).
Martial, from Les Ulis, a tough banlieue of 22,000 which also gave the world Thierry Henry and Patrice Evra, scored twice for Manchester United at Chelsea.
Banlieues can have negative connotations – these large working-class, non–white communities have become, in some quarters, synonymous with riots and social strife, but walk through Les Ulis with a youth football coach and you see absolute respect for these pillars of the community.
Martial, who grew up in a tower block overlooking a football pitch, is highly regarded locally as a happy, polite man from a family of footballers – and not just because his transfer to United paid for five buses to transport Les Ulis’ young footballers.
Martial long cut a different picture in Manchester because he’s been unhappy at United and wanted to leave, especially after he was left out of France’s victorious World Cup winning squad. It was little surprise given the competition for places and his absence from so many recent squads.
