When superlatives are thrown at football’s emerging young talents, and comparisons are drawn between said youngsters and those who have achieved greatness before them – it makes for great expectations for the likes of Yann M’Vila.
Despite early hype engulfing the French midfileder, M’Vila has thus far stunted his footballing development with an inability to maintain any self-control. Even with comparison’s to top Premier League players, the Frenchman must learn to control his temper.
"He reads the game like Claude Makelele, has the presence of Patrick Viera and can pass the ball like Yaya Toure.– Frederic Antonetti, 2011."
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A near-fatal character flaw that can be made evident as early back as 2010, when the Frenchman allegedly assaulted a restaurant owner before making off with valuables such as laptops and watches. As bad as this is, it is worsened by the fact that it occurred on the eve of France’s international with Chile.
Two years later, M’Vila failed to show any sign of maturity and continued to allow controversy off the pitch to affect his promising career on it. In November 2012, M’Vila had a drunk and disorderly night out between two of France’s U21 aggregate matches against Norway; once again demonstrating that M’Vila does not have the aptitude to embrace professionalism.
But the temper train doesn’t terminate at this station, not at all. In 2013, following Yann M’Vila’s move to Rubin Kazan, M’Vila went completely absent during their winter break and allegedly trashed his house as a form of rebellion to how he was treated.
A loan switch to Real Madrid did little to change anyone’s mind that the Frenchman was taking the game seriously. The Frenchman was reportedly out-of-shape for most of his time in the Spanish capital.
At the age of 25, Yann M’Vila is nearing what many would consider to be the peak of his career, which hitherto is marred with disappointment. Attempting to resurrect his career the Frenchman has joined Sunderland AFC on a season long loan.
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Many consider the Premier League and Yann M’Vila to be a good match — Harry Redknapp, then-manager of QPR, certainly seemed to think so and expressed that he believed he was very close to signing the midfielder. Arsenal and Tottenham were also linked with him around a similar time bracket.
Sunderland AFC however, are the tour guide of M’Vila’s entrance into England; but where the exploration takes him is anyone’s guess.
M’Vila is capable of a lot, there’s no denying that. He is a defensive midfilder that boasts a fighting spirit — unfortunately in more than just a footballing context — and can show innovative creativity with the ball as you don’t get compared to Claude Makelele for nothing after all.
Whether or not the Frenchman decides to zone out his violent and immature tendencies is what we find question-begging. I personally don’t find the fact that he headbutted an 18-year old in Sunderland’s game against Norwich U21 to be very reassuring sign of things to come this season.