Stephy Mavididi: Schooled at Arsenal and Juventus, rated by Henry and ready to fire Leicester

Growing up in the academies at Southend United and Arsenal, Stephy Mavididi had one big ambition — to play in the Premier League.

One thing you can certainly say about the striker turned left winger is he has not been afraid to step out of his comfort zone in a bid to achieve that aim.

After taking the traditional steps for an emerging teenage talent, with lower-league loans at Charlton Athletic and Preston North End, Mavididi veered away from the norm by joining Juventus, where he trained with Cristiano Ronaldo and befriended England’s Eni Aluko, who was playing for the Italian club’s women’s side towards the end of her career.

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He was supposed to be playing only for the Juventus second team in Serie C, but his performances earned him a first-team call-up in April 2019. He duly became the first Englishman to appear for Juventus since David Platt in 1992.

Then it was off to France, on loan at Dijon on the recommendation of Thierry Henry who remembered him from his Arsenal days, before a permanent move to France for €6.3million (£5.4m; $6.9m) to Montpellier.

When he scored his first goal for the club, away at Monaco in October 2020, he became the first Englishman since Joe Cole in 2012 to score in Ligue 1 and, by the end of last season, he had clocked up 115 Ligue 1 appearances — eclipsing Chris Waddle’s appearance record for an Englishman in the French top flight.

Now aged 25, the Derby-born forward is returning to native shores. He is not in the Premier League just yet, but a move to Leicester City means he is just one step away.

“It’s been great to watch his career develop,” says Ricky Duncan, the former academy manager at Southend United, where Stephy and his younger brother Shaun began their junior careers. “He came to us when he was nine. He was always a natural finisher with loads of pace, even as a young kid. But he always had a good eye for goal.

“We used to play Arsenal a lot back in the day and he caught the eye of Liam Brady (director of the Arsenal youth academy). He saw the potential.

“Stephy could finish, even as a 14-year-old, and was one of the best around at the time, and that’s why Liam put an offer in for him. Shaun went to Arsenal as well.

“I used to go down to Arsenal to see him and Liam loved his attitude and the way he conducted himself.

“He went on loan a few times and it didn’t quite work out for him, but then I heard he went to Juventus. That was unbelievable because I heard he was (lined up to go) to Portsmouth at the time.”

It was Southend’s then centre of excellence manager Luke Hobbs who, accompanied by the youth-team coach Mark Bonner (now manager of Cambridge United), travelled to Mavididi’s home in east London to convince him to sign for the Essex team’s junior set-up. He remembers the moment he later realised Southend could not — and should not — keep hold of him.

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“I remember the under-11s played Arsenal in a friendly and we won 6-5,” he says. “Stephy scored all six goals that day. That was the moment I knew he wouldn’t be with us too much longer… Physically and technically, he was very talented.”

Two years later, Hobbs joined Mavididi at Arsenal — he is now the club’s head of academy coaching — and the development of the young striker was clear to see. The move had been fruitful.

“I coached the under-14s, who had Emile Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson, and Stephy was with the under-16s with Chris Willock in the side, coached by Kwame Ampadu,” Hobbs says. “It was brilliant to see his development close up again.

“He had grown physically. He was robust and able to play with his back to goal better than before. Technically he had improved as well. In terms of speed and agility, he had great athleticism to get off the back of people and his goals-to-game ratio was always good.

“I always thought he would play at a very good level.”

A drive to take risks, not least by going to Italy at such a young age, was also evident from early on.

“His mum, Bridgette, was his main influence,” Duncan says. “She is a solid character, a really nice lady, and the drive came from her. Both the boys had that. They had a natural way of approaching things and they were never frightened or intimidated.

“You’ve seen that in his career. He has never been frightened to make a move. When he moved on from Juventus to Dijon he scored a lot of goals (eight in 28 appearances). He has always had goals in him and that’s why Montpellier paid so much for him.”

“He has had a brilliant journey, a very different one to most young English players, and I am not surprised to see his success given his application, attitude and humility,” adds Hobbs. “Going abroad and playing in Italy and France, and now at a top club like Leicester City… it makes me feel very proud of him.

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“We always put him in different situations outside his comfort zone. He occasionally played an age group up and always embraced all those challenges. He is a really good kid, very humble. He comes from a very good, supportive family.

“I am sure he will be a big success at Leicester City.”

Mavididi has played centrally through most of his career, and sees his long-term future down the middle. But at Montpellier he was converted into an attacking left winger and that is the role Leicester manager Enzo Maresca has in mind for him after the departure of Harvey Barnes.

“Whenever I saw him play, he scored and that got him his move to Arsenal,” says Duncan. “He was a central striker but he has that raw pace and can come in off the line. He is good at that. He has a big stature as well and will make a big impact.

“He makes intelligent runs. He has good movement, a good first touch and can shift the ball and strike it.”

Mavididi is similar to Barnes as a goalscoring winger rather than assist maker. Mavididi scored 21 goals in 98 appearances for Montpellier off the left flank, but only returned five assists in three seasons. There were none at all over the previous campaign.

At 6ft, Mavididi is powerful, direct and full of pace. Like Barnes, when he collects the ball in wide positions he looks to cut towards goal rather than go on the outside of the full-back, as a more traditional wide player might. His instinct is to shift the ball onto his favoured right foot to shoot.

Here away at Auxerre, a game in which Mavididi scored both goals in a 2-0 win in January, he shows exactly what he is all about. He attacks the box at pace, drawing the defender…

… then shifting the ball onto his right foot before shooting to score across the goalkeeper.

His ability to beat more than one defender was showcased in this passage of play against Lorient. At first, he appears to have nowhere to go as he is closed by three opponents…

… only to knock the ball down the line and evade all three to kickstart an attack.

His experience as a central striker adds to his armoury. He has the ability to play with his back to goal and is able to use his strength to roll defenders, as demonstrated here against Paris Saint-Germain…

… before attacking the edge of the box and shooting from range.

These noticeable attributes are backed up using smarterscout ratings, employing advanced analytics to break down elements of a footballer’s game into different performance, skill and style metrics and giving them a rating from 0-99 ranked against their peers in similar positions.

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His strengths are obvious.

His carries and dribble volume rating — the more carries of 10 metres-plus or one-on-one dribbles a player attempts per attacking touch — is as high as 94 from last season.

He attempted 5.2 dribbles per game last season, the 18th-most of any Ligue 1 player who played over 900 minutes last season.

His 2.6 shots per game also left him in the top 25 players in the division and his shot volume rating, which measures the number of times a player attempts to shoot out of the number of total touches they have, is an impressive 87.

Mavididi is clearly a player who does not lack confidence when he has the ball at his feet.

Yet his xG from shot creation — which shows how much a player’s actions contribute to creating scoring chances for their team, such as creating a chance by making a pass — is below average, at 33.

Similarly his xG from ball progression, indicating how a player’s actions increase the likelihood of his side scoring in possession by getting the ball into dangerous areas upfield — think through balls, dangerous crosses, and driving runs into the attacking third — is even lower, at 22. That suggests he is not hugely involved in dropping deep and dragging his team up the pitch, but is more a receiver of the ball in advanced areas who then likes to dribble and shoot.

His touches in the opposition box rating of just 36, below average, suggests he tends to receive the ball outside the box and then look to attack the defence.

As a natural centre-forward for most of his career, Mavididi has had to learn the defensive elements of playing wider, where he is expected to get back and help his full-back.

His ratings suggest there is no lack of effort in this area.

He scores way above average, at 88, when it comes to disrupting opposition moves, which means he is often one of the first to press and check attacks by making challenges. He also scores above average for ball recoveries and interceptions, but the low defending impact score — just six — suggests he is not one to make important challenges in one-versus-one situations.

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He is energetic defensively, but not a natural defender who consistently forces turnovers and stops the opposition.

Here against Reims, he presses an opponent on the touchline in a one-on-one dual…

… but is easily sidestepped.

And in the same game he is unable to track an opponent, who is able to collect a simple pass with a run into the inside channel as Mavididi is drawn to the ball instead of being defensively aware of the runner.

At £6.4million ($8.2m), Leicester were never signing the finished article. But the five-year contract he has committed to demonstrates the club feels there is plenty of scope for development. And it is clear Mavididi has the pace, power and eye for goal that could make him a hit in the Championship.

He will be direct, and that will excite the fans. But, above all, he adds fresh attacking options to Maresca’s squad that had seen its cutting edge so blunted since relegation.

(Top photo: Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images)

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