His dad was not Senagalese, his mum is.
Edouard Mendy | Chelsea player
- Thread starter WeePat
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He might be viewed as an african eccentric GK by these people, no matter where he was born, bred or what country he choose to represent. That's what i meant but probably poorly worded it. Apologies.
And i completely forgot about Maignan, being so used to Lloris/Mandanda and not even computing who is called up as third being Ruffier, Costil, Areola or whoever...
It makes no sense and I believe that it's due to a lack of context. Why would Mendy be considered an african eccentric goalkeeper when he only started to play for an african team two years ago, he was a starter in Ligue 1 as a french player and became a "big" name among french goalkeepers due to his performances with the surprising team of Reims, it took two solid seasons in Ligue 1 before Sénégal try to select him at 26 years old.
Now on why african goalkeepers are rarely playing for Europe elite, the answer is quite obvious when you look at them and that doesn't apply to Mendy. Top african goalkeepers are generally on the small side of things, they do not fit the archetype that top teams have mainly wanted. It's the same issue that someone like Navas has had for many years despite being excellent with Levante, he eventually joined Real Madrid played brilliantly and was still shipped out of the club. In football there is a bias against smaller goalkeepers which has a direct consequence on the amount of african candidates and that's without even talking about the fact that none of them were particularly good, for a while Kameni and Barry were the top goalkeepers and neither have ever been close to the required level.
Well, I think the article goes a bit beyond limiting it to solely African players - Black goalkeepers of any origin are underrepresented at the highest level, relative to both the footballing & general populations. Your point about Mendy being French is, of course, correct.
I don't know the numbers but it has to be down to formation too.
If we were talking about asian players that would make more sense but the african continent produce athletes of all shapes and forms and a sizeable part would qualify to be in goal.
When you look at the huge amount of kids trying to become professional footballers, from a young age, there must be a sense that making it in football often means becoming the archetype of the big CB, strong DM or fast attacker. You have more chance to get a spot in a squad playing anywhere than trying to be one of the 3 goalkeepers of the club.
Kameni was linked with a lot of clubs in his time and i'm not sure i agree that he was not at the required level. To play for Madrid or Barcelona, sure, maybe not but who can tell he couldn't have become a solid option for the second tier of spanish clubs if given the chance ? When you see the dross some clubs of the PL put between their sticks, i'd be fine giving up 5cm to have somebody more reliable and that isn't going to rush out braking legs.
I think it touches a lot of areas and they're all surrounded by a variable sized cloud of racism that becomes even more visible once they managed to pass all these first hurdles.
Again, i don't know the numbers but i think this would need a way bigger study that would take into account the size of clubs and the leagues. I think it would be no surprise if France was the place where there is the bigger presence of aspiring black GK compared to Italy or Spain for example.
On the topic of France there is a culture of smaller goalkeepers, it has never been a key criteria. If you look at the goalkeepers currently playing for the top 6 teams the taller is 1.90m and everyone else is below 1.87m. Also France former colonies and current overseas territories are mainly populated by black people, so yeah it probably has the highest amount of black goalkeepers among big football nations, outside of Brazil.
similar with Desailly. Desailly is, by birth, African (born in Ghana) but chose to represent France.
It's not similar, Desailly grew up and has been developed in France, the point wasn't about Mendy being french but about him being a french football product, senegal played no role in his development. A similar example would be Hargreaves, he played for England but he is a product of canadian and german football.
Edit: The closest french example would be Lucas Hernandez, while he is born in France, he grew up in Spain and is a spanish football product but chose to play for France.
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I am curious to get your reaction about him being french when he start performing poorly.
What is that supposed to mean? Why would his place of birth and where he was developed change?
when they are good they are Franco-something and when they are bad they are from africa. many players with dual nationalities suffer that.
Sounds like the usual Andy Murray syndrome. British when he wins, Scottish when he loses
I see, you decided to question my integrity. Hopefully you had a good reason.
exactlySounds like the usual Andy Murray syndrome. British when he wins, Scottish when he loses
thats why i said i will wait to see, you have been so keen demonstrating he owes "his career to France" that his chosen Senegal has done nothing for him, that he even initially chose Bissau...
You went back to November to find something to offend you just enough to take it public, implying another person on here is racist? Welcome to 2020 where nothing goes unoffended, you should be ashamed of yourself.
He doesn't owe his career to France and I have never suggested anything like that, which again makes me wonder what all of that is about. I answered to a post about the negative perception of african goalkeepers in Europe which makes little sense when we are talking about someone that is born and has been developed in France and was rated as one of the best goalkeepers in France since his time with Reims.
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Agreed. Utterly bizarre behaviour and you're correct to call it out.
Don't think anyone sensible would disagree with you mate.
Mendy is probably the most important signing we have made this season. Thiago Silva is a close second.
It is ridiculous how easy he makes saves look whereas Kepa would have been flapping. The positioning is key and you only look at Rashford’s effort late at Old Trafford where he made it look comfortable with both hands on the ball. Kepa would still be trying to get across to that a month later.
Mendy must stay fit. I’d sell Kepa for anything right now and if that’s unsuccessful, propel him to the moon.
It is ridiculous how easy he makes saves look whereas Kepa would have been flapping. The positioning is key and you only look at Rashford’s effort late at Old Trafford where he made it look comfortable with both hands on the ball. Kepa would still be trying to get across to that a month later.
Mendy must stay fit. I’d sell Kepa for anything right now and if that’s unsuccessful, propel him to the moon.
yet you find yourself offended by my post?? yes i can see nothing goes unoffended you just confirmed that.
My point is Fance won their two wolrd cups with players from all over the world, africans mainly yet african did not complain, and i see that someone is making it a point to try to show that Mendy plays for Senegal they did nothing for him... call me sensitive/crazy or any other word you may have but i maintain all i said.
Finally is it a ceime to read thread weeks after..
Senegal played no role in Mendy's football development, they called him when he was 26 years old. And strangely enough, you didn't really care when the example is Lucas Hernandez.
To be frank, he did say many players (sports personalities) with dual nationalities suffer this. Some even gave an Andy Murray example. “Ours when he's good, theirs when he's bad" is a very factual phenom in sports, mostly as passing joke from fans. I don't get where the racism association to this is coming from. Its more of a nationality thing than a race thing and its nowhere as serious.
No one is offended by your post, everyone is bemused that you are trying so very hard to compete in the outrage olympics whilst having your facts completely wrong.
That's not where his accusations started, nor what the conversation was initially about.
it’s ridiculous. I don’t know whether is a trend, or social pressure to try and call out everything and be offended by everything.
We last had that conversation during the last World Cup. No point rehashing it 
The 'Africa won the world cup' meme was extremely popular, that's for sure.We last had that conversation during the last World Cup. No point rehashing it
Mister everyone, thank you. Let me just rest my case and not drag this firther. Enjoy the week end. Sorry to anyone else who is also offended .
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He's such a solid keeper but that's almost downplaying his abilities a bit. Has made some truly great saves already but its his positioning that's really impressive. Can't see us selling Kepa just yet without getting another body back in but I'll imagine Kepa will go on loan with a view to rebuilding him and selling off.
Areola is Asian.
La Reunion is technically in Africa.
So are Chelsea fans happy with him?
Of course we are, the penalty conceded tonight notwithstanding. He's an absolutely colossal upgrade over Kepa and the calming effect he's had on the whole defense cannot be understated.
Yeah so thats kinda wrong
He played his first game in ligue1 in august 2018
He started playing for senegal in november 2018 but had played for guinea since 2016 (friendly matches only hence he could switch)
August to November is much closer to 2 months than it is 2 years
Yeah, I had his seasons in Ligue 2 in mind where he was excellent. And it doesn't actually change the point about him being a 26 years old when Sénégal comes from him and the fact that they played no role in his development and I mentioned the Guinea part.
He was born in Paris and his parents are Filipino. Where are you getting Réunion from?
Because I had a brainfart, I was thinking about Hoarau.
Channeled his inner Kepa last night.
I'm happy with him in a lot of ways but his technique with penalties is a huge problem, he's faced six with us so far and every single time he's been sat down (literally) while the player slotted it the other side.
We have an extra sub for ET in knockout games these days, I think we will need to save it to pull a LVG if it comes to it.
We have an extra sub for ET in knockout games these days, I think we will need to save it to pull a LVG if it comes to it.