FULL STRETCH

Chelsea’s towering last-lineof-defence Edouard Mendy is not merely an outstanding keeper, one of the best in the world today. The 29-year-old Senegal international is a living, breathing symbol of what can be achieved against the odds. Prior to becoming a Champions League winner with Chelsea last term, Mendy has had absolutely nothing handed to him on a silver platter. He has had to strive and scrap to make headway in the game, frequently on the wrong end of bad breaks and forced to surmount the sort of obstacles which the vast majority of golden boys never have to encounter: adolescent rejection, dubious advice, long spells of flatlining anonymity in the lower leagues and even a spell of unemployment as recently as six years ago.

Now 29, he is the classic late developer. He was 24 when he signed his first professional contract at Reims in 2016 and was still playing in the French second tier just three-and-ahalf years ago (also with Reims). No wonder his current state of grace in west London tastes so sweet to him. “I know I’ve come from a long way back,” declared Mendy in an interview with Le Parisien last year.

The son of a Senegalese mother and a father from Guinea-Bissau,