Kingsley Coman

Kingsley Coman    20    Midfielder    FC Bayern München    France

Skinny

Unfortunately with The 100 we are unable to see into the future. As such there is – every so often – a player that comes along and makes us look silly when it comes time to review our list.

Kingsley Coman is one of those players.

When the final decisions were being made on the list in December 2014, we had little expectation for Coman. By the time we got round to December 2015 we looked foolish for ever doubting him.

A promising midfielder, certainly but 2015 wasn’t supposed to his breakthrough. He wasn’t supposed to force his way into first team reckoning for Juventus, and be part of the squad that went all the way to the Champions League final. And he certainly wasn’t supposed to very quickly become the best teenager on the planet.

But there you go. That’s the brilliance of football.

Of course he has been one of the best players on the planet in the last 12 months and has followed a very impressive 2015 by doing the same again in the last year. Having swapped Paris Saint-Germain for Juventus and then Bayern Munich, the hugely ambitious young man is at a club that is willing to give him the playing time he feels he needs and deserves.

2016 has been…

Coman has spent the last year proving he is much more than a stand-in for Arjen Robben or Franck Ribery. Both men have struggled over the last 18 months thanks to a combination of injuries and well, old age but rather than just slotting in and doing a job, Coman has taken on the role of a winger for Munich and tweaked it to suit his strengths.

The Frenchman has pace to burn and on a number of occasions last season, he was deployed as the furthest player forward by Pep Guardiola so as to leave FC Bayern in the ideal situation to breakaway with a rapid counter attack.

Super quick both without and with the ball when Coman gets going he is a marvelous sight. He plays with a directness and confidence that only comes from knowing you can go to the very top of the game.

What’s next?

The one thing that stands out about Coman when you read interviews with him is his determination. He knows how good he can become, he knows the playing time that he requires to get there and he isn’t going to wait around for it to happen. Where possible he wants things to happen for him yesterday.

We’ve so far seen him instigate moves away from PSG and Juventus because he didn’t feel they were prepared to give him the immediate games that he needed. Whereas others would have been happy to learn from experienced professionals in training, and then spend their weekends playing the odd game of second team football; Coman has elected to strike out in pursuit of somewhere to actually play alongside those internationals.

Things are so far going smoothly at Bayern Munich right now but with the recent returns to fitness of the aforementioned Robbery duo, Coman probably wouldn’t think twice about finding another club to call home should Carlo Ancelotti start to favour the experienced heads as he looks to derail the Leipzig steam train.

B    A truly exceptional young footballer