M'Baye Babacar Niang born 19 December 1994
is a French professional footballer who plays for Serie A club
Milan.
Niang is described as "a phenomenon" and "a striker out of the
ordinary", and in April 2011, he made his professional
debut at the age of 16 in a league match with his former club
Caen against Toulouse. His playing style has also drawn
comparisons to former Milan teammate Mario Balotelli. Niang has
represented France at under-16, under-17 and under-21 level.
Niang was born in Meulan, a commune in the
Yvelines department of the Île-de-France region, to Senegalese
parents.
He began his football career at the age of seven playing for
local club Basse-Seine Les Mureaux. Niang spent two years
at the club before being spotted by amateur club Poissy. After
hearing of the player through word of mouth, Niang was
spotted by professional club Caen scouts Laurent Glaize and
David Lasry.Glaize later stated that before scouting the player,
he was informed that Niang was possibly a présu, a player
claiming to be younger than his actual date of birth.
The claim was made primarily because of Niang's height, which
stood at 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) when he was 13 years old.
Despite the claim, the scouts continued to pursue Niang, who was
also being linked to other professional clubs in France,
such as Lille and Paris Saint-Germain.
Niang joined Caen's youth academy at the
age of 13 after excelling at a trial, in which he scored a
hat-trick. He quickly
ascended up the club's youth hierarchy and, by the age of 15,
was already featuring with the club's under-19 team. Niang
was described by the team's coach Philippe Tranchant as a player
with "huge potential" while also stating "we’ve never seen
a player like him at the club before". After spending the second
part of the 2009–10 season with the under-19 team, Niang
was promoted to the club's reserve team in the Championnat de
France amateur, the fourth level of French football, ahead
of the 2010–11 season. He made his reserve team debut on 14
August 2010 in a 0–0 draw with Avranches. In the team's
ensuing match against Moulins, Niang scored the only goal for
the team in a 1–1 draw. On 12 September,
he scored both team goals in a 2–2 draw
with the reserve team of professional club Lorient. After
becoming the team's top
scorer after its first six matches, Niang began earning praise
from the local media who began predicting when the player
would be called up to the senior team. He was also linked to
several clubs abroad such as Italian club Juventus and English
clubs Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur. The latter club
reportedly offered Caen €8 million for the player.
On 18 February 2011, Niang signed his first professional
contract agreeing to a three-year deal with Caen. He was called
up
the senior team for the first time on 23 April 2011 for the
team's league match against Toulouse that was played on the
following
day. Niang was assigned the squad number 9 shirt and made his
professional debut in the match appearing as a second-half
substitute as the match ended in a 1–1 draw.At 16 years and 114
days, Niang's appearance in the match made him the youngest
player ever to appear for Caen in the club's history. A week
later, he made his first professional start in a 4–0 away win
over Nice.
On 7 May, Niang scored his first professional goal in a 1–1 draw
with Lens.
The goal made him the second youngest
player to score a goal in Ligue 1 behind Laurent Roussey. In the
team's next match
against Rennes, Niang appeared as a substitute and scored the
equalizing goal four minutes after coming on.In the team's
final league match of the season against Marseille, he converted
the team's second goal, which put Caen 2–0 up. Marseille
later scored two unanswered goals to draw the match 2–2. Niang
finished the campaign with seven appearances, of which
four were starts, and three league goals.
Prior to the start of the 2011–12 season, Niang's professional
contract became subject to debate after French newspaper Le
Parisien
revealed that his father did not agree to the signing of the
contract.Due to Niang being a minor, it is required by French
law that
both parents of the player agree to the contract. Despite
reportedly being present during the signing of the contract,
Niang's father,
through his lawyer, threatened to begin "a procedure for
revocation of the contract". Despite the contract issues, Niang
remained
a Caen player and made his season debut on 13 August 2011 in a
2–1 win over Sochaux.On 24 September, he scored his first goal
of the campaign in a 4–2 away win over Evian. Niang's only other
goal during the season came in the 1–1 draw away to Nancy.
Before the start of the 2012–13 season, it
was reported that Niang had gone on trial with English clubs
Arsenal, Everton and Tottenham.
On 27 August 2012, it was confirmed that Niang was in
negotiations with Italian club Milan after arriving in the city
and having dinner
with club vice-president Adriano Galliani. On the following day,
the move was confirmed on Milan's official website. Niang signed
a
three-year contract, while the transfer fee was undisclosed.
On 13 December 2012, in the Coppa Italia 5th Round game against
Reggina, Niang came on as a substitute and scored with the match
ending in a 3–0 win. The goal in the 70th minute put Niang into
the history books as the second-youngest goal scorer in Milan
history
at 17 years and 350 days. On his 18th birthday, Niang signed a
contract extension with Milan, keeping him at the club until
2017.
In January 2014, Niang joined Montpellier
on loan. He made 19 appearances, scoring 4 goals.Genoa (loan)In
January 2015, Niang
was loaned to fellow Italian club Genoa in the transfer window
for the remainder of the season. He went on to score 5 goals in
his
14 appearances with Genoa before being sent back to Milan
following the injury he sustained.
Niang suffered a fractured metatarsal when
Milan faced Bayern Munich in the pre-season Audi Cup tournament,
causing him to miss
the start of 2015–16 season. He returned to the field in a 0–0
draw against Atalanta. He then scored his first brace in Serie A
for Milan
as the team cruised past Sampdoria with a 4–1 win on 28 November
2015 at the San Siro.
In January 2016, it was reported that Milan had rejected a €16
million bid from English club Leicester City for Niang. On 31
January,
he scored the final goal in the Derby della Madonnina against
Internazionale, helping Milan triumph 3–0, then scoring again in
a 2–0
defeat of Palermo three days later and at home against Udinese,
reaching his personal goal scoring record in a single season.
However,
he was involved in a car accident on March 2016, which kept him
out of the season for almost 2 months. He returned for Milan as
a
substitute during the final few minutes against Juventus in the
Coppa Italia final on 21 May 2016, which was won by Juventus
by a scoreline 1–0.
Niang started the first game of the season for Milan in the
2016–2017 campaign in Serie A against Torino F.C., which Milan
won 3–2.
He started the subsequent game against Napoli on 27 August 2016,
which Milan lost 4–2 away from home. Niang managed to get
on the scoresheet, but was sent off in the 87th minute for
trying to grab Pepe Reina while he was trying to offload the
ball.
After suffering a drop in his performance,
in January 2017, Niang was sent on loan to English Premier
League team Watford. He made
his league debut on 31 January 2017 as a starter in a 1–2 away
win against Arsenal. On 4 February 2017, Niang scored his first
goal
for Watford in a 2–1 home win against Burnley. Niang also
assisted Troy Deeney's goal in that match.
Niang is a France youth international, having represented his
nation at under-16, under-17, under-21 level.In December 2009,
he earned his first international call-up at under-16 level
under coach Patrick Gonfalone for friendly matches against
Belgium.
Niang made his youth international debut in the first match
against Belgium in a 4–1 win. In the second match against
Belgium
held two days later, he scored the only goal in a 1–0 win. Niang
returned to the under-16 team in January 2010 to participate
in the 2010 edition of the Aegean Cup in Turkey. In the
competition, he appeared in all four matches France contested.
He scored two goals; both in group stage
victories over the Czech Republic and Romania. France won the
competition after
defeating the hosts 3–1 in the final to become the competition's
two-time defending champions. Afterwards, Niang failed
to earn a call-up under Gonfalone at under-16 level, which
resulted in the player missing the Montaigu Tournament.
At under-17 level, Niang was among Gonfalone's first call-ups
and made his debut at a European tournament in Serbia in the
team's
opening group stage match against the hosts. In first round
qualification for the 2011 UEFA European Under-17 Football
Championship,
he appeared in all three group stage matches as France finished
the round in the second place behind Italy. Despite appearing in
the team's first eight matches, Gonfalone did not call Niang up
again for the under-17 team. He, subsequently, missed both the
UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship and 2011 FIFA U-17
World Cup.
Due to being born in France to Senegalese parents, Niang is
eligible to represent the Senegal national team at international
level.
In May 2011, Senegalese media reported that Niang was named to
the Senegal under-23 team to participate in 2011 CAF U-23
Championship qualification matches in June 2011. After this
report was deemed inaccurate, in July 2011, it was reported that
Niang had announced his desire to represent Senegal at senior
international level. Later that month, he was named to the
Senegal
squad to face Morocco in August. On 4 August, Niang distanced
himself from the reports and re-affirmed his desire to represent
France at international level. He later stated, "First, I never
said that I had chosen Senegal or France. The only words I have
spoken
is that, for now, I prefer the French youth teams."
On the same day after reaffirming his decision to represent
France, Niang bypassed three international levels and was called
up
to the France under-21 team by coach Erick Mombaerts to
participate in a three-day training camp at the Clairefontaine
academy.
In September 2011, he was called up for the second consecutive
time by Mombaerts for a 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Football
Championship qualification match against Latvia on 2 September
and a friendly against Portugal on 5 September. He made his
under-21 debut in the qualifier against Latvia appearing as a
substitute in the 72nd minute. After 15 minutes on the field,
Niang
scored his first goal for the team. France won the match 3–0. In
November 2012, Niang was banned from representing the French
national team until 31 December 2013 for visiting a nightclub
while breaking a night time curfew.
M’Baye Niang took the iPad and,
nonchalantly flicking away the action picture of a gangling
teenager almost lost in the
billowing red and blue first-team shirt of Stade Malherbe Caen,
zoomed in upon the quote in question. He had delivered
it as a 16-year-old contemplating his first full campaign in
Ligue 1, a kid being interviewed as the great emerging hope
of French football. “‘You fall back much faster than you climb
in this game’,” he read as if impressed by his younger self’s
level-headed outlook. The semi-shrug and hint of a nod that
followed served as confirmation that, almost six years on,
he still agrees with the sentiment.
Scratch the surface of Niang’s story over recent seasons and
those words would appear prophetic. Recruited to the academy
at 13, he had become Caen’s youngest senior player at 16 years
and 114 days. In the summer of 2012 the teenager from
Les Mureaux, an unforgiving industrial suburb of the Yvelines
département to the west of Paris, would spend time on trial
at Arsenal and Everton, listening to the contrasting sales
pitches put forward by Arsène Wenger and David Moyes. Then
Adriano Galliani, the Milan vice-president, arrived on a private
jet and whisked him and his family off to San Siro where,
by mid-December, he would become the Rossoneri’s second youngest
scorer at 17 years and 350 days.
He was already a France under-21 international by then, having
bypassed three age groups to feature in qualification
for the juniors’ European Championship. The forward appeared to
have it all, his future rich with promise, which might
make his involvement in Watford’s collision with Sunderland in
the lower reaches of the Premier League on Saturday feel
reflective of a slump, particularly given he had started the
current Serie A campaign in Vincenzo Montella’s vibrant young
team. “But I have always lived by the principle that, whatever
happens, it’s never about ‘failure’,” he said. “It’s about
learning
so you can improve and return to the top. I was at a big club,
playing with big players. Now I’ve come here because, obviously,
I need to learn more. So I will get my head down and work like a
dog. If I do that then I will return to the top level again.
“I have real opportunities still ahead of me. If I do everything
I can, I’m convinced I’ll improve and succeed. It wasn’t that my
relationship with Milan broke down, but maybe I did need a
change. My career needed it. We both recognised that. So I am
here,
playing in the best league in the world and enjoying a fresh
challenge. That isn’t a sign of failure. I’ve joined a good
club, a good
team in the Premier League. I’m still young, and I know my
objectives, my targets: play well for my club, help the team,
win
trophies, score lots of goals … the same targets they have
always been. Now it’s about working, getting that consistency,
and
I hope that will allow me to find my way back to a big club.
Voilà.”
Niang is honest enough not to hide that ultimate ambition of
returning to the elite, despite Watford having struck a verbal
agreement with Milan to make his move permanent for around
£13.5m in the summer if all parties fall into line. The hope is
the Hertfordshire club benefit from his reinvigoration. Walter
Mazzarri, so influential in convincing the forward to join on
loan
towards the end of January, had thrown him in immediately for a
league match at Arsenal a few days after his arrival. His poise,
energy and work-rate on the flank that evening helped his new
team secure an eye-catching victory, their first in the
topflight
at the north London club since 1988. There was an assist for
Troy Deeney and a goal of his own, a header glanced into the top
corner, on his home debut against Burnley.
His influence has been less evident since,
reflecting this team’s relative toils – those wins remain their
only successes
in the Premier League since mid-December, leaving Watford seven
points from the bottom three – but also perhaps
those inconsistencies in his own game that contributed to his
departure from Milan. “People ask if the expectation
was too much, but it was never a question of too much pressure,”
Niang said. “I played some very important games,
and was lucky enough to score in some very important games. If
you are at Milan, it’s because you deserve to be there.
I’d merited that move because I’d worked at Caen. And I had the
right strength of character you need at such a big club.
I could cope with the limelight: I like people being interested
in me, watching my games, and if you can’t cope with them
scrutinising you then you have to change clubs. But that’s not
why I left.
“No, this is more that I needed a fresh start. I had seasons at
Milan when I played, and others when I didn’t and was
out on loan at Montpellier and Genoa. They changed managers so
often since I joined them [there have been six since
his move to Italy in 2012] and, not wishing to make excuses, it
does not make life easy for a young player if the coach
is always changing. And, of course, football is all about
hitting that level all the time, and I wasn’t consistent enough.
Maybe that’s what counted against me most of all.”
A tally of eight league goals in 67
appearances across five seasons tells its own story, and his
most productive stint was Read More about other footballers, sport betting online, casino, sbobet entrance from sbobet.
with Genoa in early 2015. A player of his lavish talent merits
better.There were also errors of judgment, and it says much
that a player briefly touted as the future of the French
national team had arrived at Watford more saddled by a
reputation
as an enfant terrible. He has not represented France since
incurring a 12-month suspension for breaking a curfew to visit
a nightclub while on international duty with the under-21s in
2012, and he has been guilty of driving offences too often
in Italy and back in France. Bystanders have been injured and
cars written off. The last incident, a year ago, when his car
slid off the road in Legnano while he was driving to a bowling
alley with a friend, led to his being ruled out for more than
two months. Ice was to blame on that occasion.
Milan had welcomed him back for the final of the Coppa Italia,
but were subsequently unimpressed by footage, posted
on social media, of him jumping off the roof of a house into a
swimming pool having only recently recovered full fitness.
“When we’re young, we all have problems,” said Niang, who
acknowledged some of his own have been self‑inflicted.
“Certainly, go back two or three years, and I was still making
mistakes. Silly mistakes. Mistakes which hurt me. Now I’d like
to think I am a bit more mature, a bit wiser, and I understand
more about life and the way things work. These days,
I can fall back on my experiences to help me. I can learn from
those mistakes.”
The tag of Golden Boy lies with Monaco’s prolific striker Kylian
Mbappé, scourge of Manchester City who, at 18 years and 95 days
became the second youngest player to represent France when
introduced in a World Cup qualifying victory in Luxembourg last
week.
“What advice would I give him? Look he’s a really good player,
an intelligent player who knows what he is doing. But never
forget
your roots. Never get ahead of yourself. Pas grillé, pas grillé.
But I’ve seen him play for Monaco this season and he has so much
quality.”
While Mbappé blazes a trail, Niang’s own international future
has yet to be determined. The opportunity remains to represent
Senegal
despite his involvement in the French junior ranks. “I am
ambitious and want to play at the World Cup, and I have a little
idea in the
back of my mind as to what I want to do. It’s not a secret. It’s
just I want to take my time to make sure the decision is right
before
I announce it.”
Making an impact at Watford, to ease Mazzarri’s team away from
the scrap at the foot of the table, is his more immediate
objective.
Niang described the chance to play in the Premier League as “a
dream” and, settled in central London with his fiancée Emilie
Fiorelli
winner of the French reality television show Secret Story 9,
which ensures Niang is splashed as often on the gossip as sports
pages
back home – he recognises there is life after Milan. “It’s still
early to say I feel ‘at home’ here, I’ve only just arrived, but
I’d like to stay
in England,” he said. “It’s a style of football that I adore.
You need to be strong to do well here, and I have that. I’m all
about strength,
pace, skill, taking people on.“I’m getting there. I’m learning
the language... ‘quickly, quickly’... ‘On Saturday I score
goals’... and working.
Working. I can do that freely here, enjoying my football,
playing regularly, learning. I know I was at Milan, but
sometimes you have to
take a step down to come back stronger.” That represents a tweak
to the mantra from six years ago. Times have changed but, at 22,
Niang still has plenty he can achieve.
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