Kingsley Coman
The Bayern Munich and France winger on his career to date and ambitions for the future – including this summer’s European Championship
Kingsley Coman’s CV is a sight to behold. Since making his professional debut in 2013 – when he became Paris Saint-Germain’s youngestever player aged 16 years, eight months and four days – the winger has ended every single season with a league winner’s medal, lifting trophies in three different countries.
“It was never my plan to travel so much
– it was really just something that happened,” he admits.
His critics will point out – not unfairly – that he has not exactly made telling contributions in all nine of those successes: he played a grand total of 39 minutes for his two Ligue 1 medals, and started just five times when Juventus won Serie A in 2014-15. Before the current campaign, the most starts he’d managed in a single Bundesliga season for Bayern was 20.
Now though, he is proving to be a genuine difference-maker at the highest level; and there is no higher level than the Champions League. In last season’s competition, he started seven times en route to winning the trophy, scoring the opening goal in group-stage wins over Red Star Belgrade and Tottenham Hotspur, and again, of course, in the final against PSG.
Starting in the showdown in Lisbon, against his first club, was undoubtedly the biggest moment of Coman’s career. Yet the young Parisian was undaunted by the challenge:
“It was more excitement to be playing in a Champions League final,” he says. “It was a very good final and we knew PSG had many dangerous players and we had to be playing our best. I felt a lot of joy to win the Champions League.”
Nevertheless, there was still some sympathy for the club where it all began for him.
“Even though I am 100 per cent Bayern, I felt sad for the PSG fans as I spent time there. All I wanted to do was win the Champions League – but yes, there was a little sadness.”
Coman’s departure from the French capital set something of a trend. Since he left at the end of his contract in 2014, several young stars have followed him through the Parc des Princes exit door to make their names elsewhere. Adrien Rabiot took the same route to Juventus, while Christopher Nkunku, Moussa Diaby, Jonathan Ikone and Boubakary Soumare have all gone on to impress elsewhere, to name but a few. Even last year, Tanguy Nianzou turned down a deal with the French champions to join Coman in Munich, having played in PSG’s Champions League campaign.
The winger, though, is not surprised. “It is clear they have a project where they can go and buy the best established players in the world, so it makes it that much more difficult for younger players to break in.”
As an 18-year-old, Coman was not prepared to wait. He joined Juventus at the end of his contract in 2014, but only stayed in Turin for one year before moving again, initially on a two-year loan to Bayern Munich, before signing permanently in 2017.
Life in Bavaria has not always been easy, but Coman has at least become more patient. Competition for places is something that he has come to accept. In July, Bayern announced the €45m signing of Leroy Sane just days after Coman had scored one goal and assisted another in a 4-0 victory at Wolfsburg. “We are always looking for players that will make a stronger squad and Sane has so much quality. We know that,” he says of the ex-Manchester City man’s arrival. “When I arrived at Bayern I had Robben, Douglas Costa and Ribery as
competition for my position, so it’s something I am used to.
“I feel that I am playing well, but this is Bayern and there are so many good players so you have to work so hard to keep your place in the team.”
Generally, Coman has been successful in seeing off the challenge for places. He started 17 of Bayern Munich’s first 25 Bundesliga games this season – only Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Muller were picked more often in the Bavarians’ attack – chipping in with nine assists. In the Champions League, he was the club’s joint-top goalscorer in the group stage with three strikes, notably starring in the 4-0 demolition of Atletico Madrid with two goals and an assist.
It is this Champions League form that has seen Coman emerge as a potential option in Didier Deschamps’ France plans. In March, he started in the 1-1 draw with Ukraine and arguably should have won a penalty. But overall he struggled to impress, and was replaced after an hour by Ousmane Dembele. His Bayern form has, as yet, not been replicated on the international stage.
“It is always going to be a motivation to play for your country at a major tournament, but the reality is you get picked for your country based on the performances for your club and that is what I must focus on.”
Having made his debut in 2015, Coman played six times at Euro 2016 as France reached the final on home soil, yet his progress stalled over the following two years. He played just three times in qualifying for the 2018 World Cup, and was only on standby for the squad until injury ended his hopes of going to Russia.
Although he has featured more often since then, his place in the team – or even the squad – is still not guaranteed. “We have some of the best young players in the world,” says Coman enthusiastically, but clearly this is a factor in his limited opportunities. No coach in the world has as much strength in depth to choose from as Deschamps, with several genuinely world-class players throughout the squad, particularly in attack.
In theory, it is possible to construct a fantasy line-up where Coman stars alongside the likes of Dembele, Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe up front, interchanging positions and running rings around defenders.
Yet this is simply not Deschamps’ style. Olivier Giroud is likely to lead the attack, offering a foil for Griezmann behind him and Mbappe on one flank, with a tactically disciplined runner on the other side. In Russia that was Blaise Matuidi, but since he moved to MLS it has been Moussa Sissoko or Adrien
“With the players we have, dominating international football is the aim”
Rabiot, or more often, a change of formation to either 3-4-1-2 or 4-3-1-2, leaving little room for an out-and-out winger like Coman.
Nevertheless, having a Champions League final match-winner to call upon is not to be sniffed at, and Deschamps will find it hard to leave Coman on the standby list this time. And if he could play a decisive role in becoming a European champion at international level too, he would surely put to bed any doubts about his pedigree.
“That is the aim. We know our ability, but when you talk about winning a European Championship or World Cup it is never easy because of the quality of teams you need to beat along the way. But with the players we have, dominating international football is the aim. Hopefully this group of players will be around for many more tournaments.”
Interview by Donald Deane
Words by Jamie Evans