Bryan Mbeumo, Riyad Mahrez, Said Benrahma… Martin Adeline? As West Ham United mull over a move for the ESTAC Troyes talisman, the plan is obviously for the pattern to continue.
The Ligue 2 to Championship pipeline is one a number of second-tier clubs have enjoyed major success with over the years.
Will West Ham United become the latest, following in the footsteps of Leicester City and now-Premier League stalwarts Brentford? As the Hammers identify Martin Adeline as a potential Mateus Fernandes replacement, his track record in the second-tier of French football with newly-promoted Troyes – and the brilliance of those who came before – bode well for a fresh start across the Channel.
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See Mbeumo, Mahrez and Benrahma, to name but three.
West Ham United could emulate the successes of Brentford and Leicester City
Martin Adeline was the driving force behind Troyes’ Ligue 1 return, scoring 11 goals and creating a league-high 13 assists. Adeline shares many attributes with Mateus Fernandes, too.
Franck Chalencon, a former coach at Reims, told Liberation about the 22-year-old’s ability to ‘break the lines with his passing’, as well as his capacity for ‘immense physical effort’.
‘[Adeline] has an exceptional engine and great intensity’ but ‘what stands out most is his intelligence; he understands tactical instructions instantly and applies them flawlessly on the pitch’.
A ‘modern midfielder’ who topped the charts for assists while coming in seconds for fouls committed. If Fernandes was West Ham’s most complete, all-round operator since Declan Rice, then the broadness of Adeline’s skillset potentially makes him uniquely suited for a similar role in Nuno Espirito Santo’s engine room.
In successive summers, 2018 and 2019, Brentford plucked two little-known wingers from across the Channel. Bryan Mbeumo moved to London – ironically enough – from Adeline’s current employers, Troyes, after a ten-goal campaign.
While Benrahma technically arrived from Nice, Brentford caught sight of the future West Ham maverick while he was racking up nine goals on loan at Chatearoux. Both would take the Championship by storm; scoring a combined 32 goals as Brentford reached the play-off final in 2021.
Mbeumo earned himself a £65 million move to Manchester United after breaking the 20-goal barrier in the Premier League. Benrahma, while not quite hitting the same heights as his old teammate, was a key part of West Ham’s Conference League-winning team.
Over in the East Midlands, Leicester City snapped up a baby-faced Riyad Mahrez from Le Havre. Two years later, he would be crowned the Premier League Player of the Year as the Foxes pulled off arguably the greatest shock in modern sports.
Bryan Mbeumo and Riyad Mahrez headline Ligue 2’s best imports
There are other examples in a field dominated by the Bees and the Foxes.
Neal Maupay scored 37 Championship goals in two seasons after joining Brentford from a spell at St Etienne. Anthony Knockaert got his chance in England after shining for Guingamp.
And when Nuno Espirito Santo lifted the Championship title with Wolves in 2017, at the heart of his backline was a defender who had very recently played second-tier football in France; Romain Saiss.
Jonathan Kodjia left Angers for Bristol City in 2015 and netted 19 in his debut season at Ashton Gate.
In the division above, Bournemouth snatched Eli Junior Kroupi from under West Ham’s nose and saw him become the top-scoring teenager in a single Premier League campaign.
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Not every signing from Ligue 2 has been a roaring success at Championship level. See Yeni Ngbakoto at QPR, Joseph Mendes at Reading and Idriss Saadi at Cardiff City.
But the brilliance of Brentford with Mbeumo and Benrahma, plus Mahrez’s remarkable rise at Leicester, shows that the step up from France’s second tier to it’s English equivalent can be pretty straightforward for those talented and adaptable enough.
“One potential replacement for Fernandes who will remain a top prospect despite [Nils] Koppen’s arrival, is Martin Adeline from Troyes,” club insider ExWhuEmployee told West Ham Way on the day that Fernandes’ £85 million move to Tottenham was confirmed.
“We exclusively revealed interest in [Adeline] at the start of the window, and this interest still remains.
“Once the Fernandes money arrives at the club, we are expected to make a move for the Frenchman. We have produced a list of other targets that could be alternative targets as well, but Adeline remains a key target for now.”
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