Tanguy Ndombele could have gone either way.



Back in the summer of 2016 it was not clear whether Ndombele would make it as a professional player at all. The previous season his team Amiens had finished third in France’s third tier but manager Christophe Pelissier did not trust the 19-year-old to play a single minute. He had been down playing amateur football with their reserves instead.



Ndombele was overweight. At one point by as much as 18lb. Enough to stop him from getting a move to another club, with Angers, Caen and Auxerre all turning down the chance to sign him while he was still struggling to break through at Amiens. He did not look like a player who would make the most of his obvious gifts, and it was not even clear whether he would ever get the chance.



John Williams is director of football at Amiens. He sat Ndombele down for an hour in May 2016 at their training ground to tell him what a pivotal moment this was for a talented player who was...