Before he became a bona fide Premier League sensation with Leicester City, Riyad Mahrez came very close to not making the grade in French football as a youngster after a succession of bigger clubs passed on the nimble winger.
Before lower league side Quimper finally took the plunge in 2009, Mahrez spent several years plugging away with his hometown club, Sarcelles.
Now, thanks to L’Equipe, we have a swatch of footage of the 17-year-old Mahrez in action, with the prodigious young forward running us through his repertoire of fancy footwork in front of a few of his Sarcelles teammates…
The natural talent is clear to see, but it obviously took him a while to bolster his dainty dicking-around with a bit of proper footballing mettle.
The ever-growing phalanx of tiresome teenage Youtube freestyle grandstanders could learn a valuable lesson here.