There are plenty of homegrown stars thriving in the Premier League — meaning Stephy Mavididi’s exploits for Montpellier may have gone under the radar for some.
The Arsenal academy graduate has scored eight goals and claimed three assists in Ligue 1 this season, placing him fifth among English players for goal involvements across Europe’s top five leagues.
Ahead of Montpellier’s trip to Saint-Etienne on Saturday, LiveScore sat down for an exclusive chat with Mavididi.
Read on as the 23-year-old striker gives his thoughts on life in France, sharing the pitch with Kylian Mbappe and other Englishmen shining across Europe.
Stephy, great to chat with you. You must be very happy with how the season is going. How does French football compare to how it is here?
In England, I think you need all the attributes in one, whether that be the tactical side, the technical side or the physical side.
I haven’t seen a league that’s more demanding than France. If you watch most games, once you get to 50-60 minutes it’s like you’re playing basketball. It’s up and down all the time.
I like it because it suits my style of play but there are a lot of strong athletes so physically it’s very tough.
You have shared the pitch with the likes Neymar and Kylian Mbappe when coming up against Paris Saint-Germain. What is that like?
It’s a bit surreal. For me personally, when the time came and I was standing next to Mbappe, I thought: “Bro, you’ve got two eyes, a nose, and two legs just like me!”
Yes, they’re talented but you look at them and think: “Why can’t that be me? Why can’t I reach the levels you reach?”
Then again, he [Mbappe] has a crazy level of ability that I’ve never seen before. Crazy speed and power. But we’re all human. I’ve seen people, even some of my teammates, get starstruck and freeze.
It’s nice playing against these big superstars but at the end of the day it’s 11 vs 11 and if you’re playing against them, you’ve got to kill them.
Do you think Ligue 1 is beginning to gain more respect?
Yes, 100%. Especially with [Lionel] Messi coming in. It’s brought a lot of attention to it.
When I saw the news that Messi was coming I was buzzing because I felt like more people are going to watch the French league and more people are going to respect it.
Once people see PSG struggling against the likes of Marseille, that will raise some eyebrows and make people want to watch more games.
You are a product of Arsenal’s Hale End academy. How good is it to see the likes of Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe, and others thriving? What makes the academy so special?
I think the reason they’re doing so well is that we were so tight-knit there. It was literally like a family.
There is an age gap between myself, Bukayo, and Emile but we’ve been together for such a long time. I used to stay behind and watch their games and they used to do the same with ours. Our parents are really close and things like that. It’s so nice to see them doing so well.
Watching Bukayo for England in the summer, it feels like last week we were watching him when he was basically a baby for the Under-9s or U-10s.
It’s nice when I go back to London and see how well they’re doing. What they’ve done in their short careers already. I can’t even explain it, it’s mad — I feel like a proud dad!”
Source: Livescore.
