Paul-Georges Ntep
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Finally some good news.
Let's just sign players this summer that no ones ever heard of. See how that pans out for us.
Lol. Actually, Wenger already did - back in end of 2013 when he was still with Auxerre in Ligue 2.
[article=http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/3274/ligue-1/2013/12/22/4497042/wenger-a-great-future-awaits-ntep]"Paul George Ntep has the potential to have a great future," the 64-year-old told French football programme Telefoot.
"Whether he will or not all depends on his mind."[/article]
[article=http://news.yahoo.com/paul-georges-ntep-receives-1st-call-france-115954062.html]Rennes forward Paul-Georges Ntep has been called up for the first time with France for upcoming friendlies against Belgium and Albania.
The 22-year-old player, whose speed and impact have helped him score nine league goals this season, benefited from Karim Benzema's withdrawal because of injuries.
France, which has already qualified for the 2016 European Championship as the host country, takes on Belgium on June 7 at the Stade de France before traveling to Albania six days later.
France coach Didier Deschamps says Ntep "has a big margin of progression and is a bit different from many forwards as he rather plays on the wing."
Deschamps also called up Juventus players Patrice Evra and Paul Pogba, despite their team's involvement in the Champions League final against Barcelona on June 6.[/article]
The 22-year-old player, whose speed and impact have helped him score nine league goals this season, benefited from Karim Benzema's withdrawal because of injuries.
France, which has already qualified for the 2016 European Championship as the host country, takes on Belgium on June 7 at the Stade de France before traveling to Albania six days later.
France coach Didier Deschamps says Ntep "has a big margin of progression and is a bit different from many forwards as he rather plays on the wing."
Deschamps also called up Juventus players Patrice Evra and Paul Pogba, despite their team's involvement in the Champions League final against Barcelona on June 6.[/article]
[article=http://www.espnfcasia.com/blog/scouts-notebook/78/post/2457923/paul-georges-nteps-rise-to-stardom-scouts-notebook]Paul-Georges Ntep has been one of the standout young stars of Ligue 1 this season and like his rangy and impressive teammate Abdoulaye Doucoure, he has been heavily linked with a summer move away from his current employers Rennes.
Ntep was born in Douala in western Cameroon, but he and his sister were sent to live with their aunt in the gritty Paris suburb of Grigny when he was eight years old. He was rejected by the likes of Lille, Paris Saint-Germain and Toulouse, but after bouncing around a number of youth clubs it was at Brétigny Foot, who count Patrice Evra among their alumni, that he showed sufficient promise to earn himself a contract with their partner club AJ Auxerre.
He started off in the under-18 group but was quickly promoted to the reserves, where he regularly turned out during his first two seasons at the club. He made his first-team debut at 18 but it wasn't until Auxerre's demotion to Ligue 2 in 2012 that he began to receive regular starts. After eight goals in 34 appearances during the 2012-13 season, he scored twice for the France Under-21 side who finished third at that summer's Toulon Youth Tournament.
He began the next campaign in blistering form, with seven goals in 17 appearances before the turn of the year. As January 2014 approached, Queens Park Rangers and Roma were among the interested parties but it was Rennes who eventually paid €6 million to secure his services.
"I decided I should take my time and try playing at a higher level in France before moving abroad," the winger recently explained to FourFourTwo.
It proved to be a good decision, as he settled swiftly and ended the season with four goals in the last four fixtures, including an audacious floor-bound header against Reims on the final day. This season, in a low-scoring side, his tally of nine goals and five assists, at a rate of 0.30 goals and 0.16 assists per 90 minutes, reads well and is backed up by the underlying numbers (0.22 expected goals and 0.22 expected assists) as per ESPN Stats and Info.
The 22-year-old has unsurprisingly caught the attention of bigger clubs with his performances and output. He has been watched by all of this season's Premier League top four clubs, while Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain have also had him scouted. Reports earlier this month suggested that he had visited Liverpool's Melwood training complex ahead of a potential move to Merseyside, but that was denied by Ntep himself shortly afterwards.
Style
Ntep is a confident and direct winger who thrives in one-on-one situations. He is at his best when stationed on the left and given opportunities to run directly at a full-back, where his rapid acceleration, excellent balance and ability to go either way mean that he is extremely difficult to defend against. He is capable of going down the line to provide a left-footed cross into the area or of darting infield to take a shot on goal off of his favoured right foot.
There are still flashes of the ebullient child whose unpredictable style of play was crafted on the streets of Douala and indulged by youth clubs of varying quality across the suburbs of Paris. There is a cheeky, even impudent, side to his game that sometimes rubs opponents up the wrong way. Yet it would also be fair to say that these excesses have become less common as he has matured and started to provide a more regular end product.
Major Strengths
- a quick, tricky and direct dribbler
- two-footed
- solid finisher and crosser
Major Weaknesses
- awareness of the positioning of teammates
- varied passing accuracy
Assessment Breakdown
Tackling: Makes just over one tackle per match on average, largely when tracking back into a defensive position, although he does occasionally win the ball back higher up the pitch.
Marking: Perhaps not as diligent in carrying out his defensive duties as some of Rennes' other wingers but does track back fairly well when required. The team is quite often organised to allow Ntep to stay upfield and provide a threat on the counter-attack.
Heading: At 5-foot-11, he is far from the tallest and not particularly useful as either an aerial out-ball or as a threat inside the penalty area. However, he does occasionally arrive late and unmarked at the far post for headed attempts on goal, as he did to good effect to score in the 2-1 win over Nice last December.
Close control: With a good first touch, quick feet and swift acceleration, he is a major handful for any defender. He has the third-highest take-on success rate (54.1 percent) among Ligue 1's 20 most prolific dribblers.
Passing: He has completed 64 percent of his passes this season, which is okay for a player of his type. The weighting of his passes does, however, needs to be improved upon, as does his awareness of teammates' positions. When opposition sides double team him, he is often guilty of holding onto the ball too long instead of quickly bringing others into play.
Positioning: Spends most of his time out on the left flank and only moves infield out of possession when an opportunity exists to get in behind the opposition's defence. The timing of his runs is generally good but he struggled as a lone centre-forward in the 1-0 away defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in January.
Crossing: He has worked hard to improve his crossing ability off of his left foot and produced a lovely whipped ball to the far post, headed home by Habib Habibou, for the opening goal in the early-season 2-0 win over Lille. Generally looks to skip past his marker to the byline before providing low, drilled crosses into the area, such as those that yielded both goals in the 2-0 victory at home to Monaco last November.
Finishing: He has taken 1.97 shots per 90 minutes this season, with an on-target accuracy rate of 39 percent. Of the 22 players in Ligue 1 to have scored nine or more goals, only four have done so off of fewer shots per 90 minutes than Ntep.
The large majority of his goals come from inside the penalty area. He is capable of striking the ball well with minimal back-lift and shows a calm head at times, although his finishing does lack precision on occasion.
What The Experts Say
ESPN FC's Julian Laurens: "That's Paul-Georges Ntep for you: cheeky, arrogant, unpredictable, ultra-talented and clearly unique... Soon Rennes will become too small for him. The Premier League is the perfect fit."
French football journalist Andrew Gibney: "Ntep has blistering pace and a keen eye for goal. Defenders find it very hard to stop him cutting in from the left and firing off blistering shots on his right foot."
Conclusion
Ntep has worked hard to improve his game and is approaching readiness for a transfer to a club that is regularly involved in European competition. Rennes are a team who use possession in a very structured and deliberate way, and any side who decides to move for Ntep would be doing so in the hope that his integration into a more attack-minded team would result in an improvement on his already very solid final-third output.
The 22-year-old's combustible side still occasionally rises to the surface. He was involved in a quickly resolved training ground bust-up with coach Philippe Montanier earlier this season and was sent off two minutes after coming onto the pitch in the League Cup win over Marseille last October. There would definitely be an element of risk involved in moving him away from France to another country.
Ntep still has some areas of his game that require further polishing. He is still quite inconsistent, while he needs to improve on bringing others into play when he himself is closely marked. He is, though, a talented player and one who is sure to attract plenty of interest this summer. Another season in Ligue 1 may, however, prove best, particularly as it could give him an outside chance of breaking into the France squad for Euro 2016.[/article]
Ntep was born in Douala in western Cameroon, but he and his sister were sent to live with their aunt in the gritty Paris suburb of Grigny when he was eight years old. He was rejected by the likes of Lille, Paris Saint-Germain and Toulouse, but after bouncing around a number of youth clubs it was at Brétigny Foot, who count Patrice Evra among their alumni, that he showed sufficient promise to earn himself a contract with their partner club AJ Auxerre.
He started off in the under-18 group but was quickly promoted to the reserves, where he regularly turned out during his first two seasons at the club. He made his first-team debut at 18 but it wasn't until Auxerre's demotion to Ligue 2 in 2012 that he began to receive regular starts. After eight goals in 34 appearances during the 2012-13 season, he scored twice for the France Under-21 side who finished third at that summer's Toulon Youth Tournament.
He began the next campaign in blistering form, with seven goals in 17 appearances before the turn of the year. As January 2014 approached, Queens Park Rangers and Roma were among the interested parties but it was Rennes who eventually paid €6 million to secure his services.
"I decided I should take my time and try playing at a higher level in France before moving abroad," the winger recently explained to FourFourTwo.
It proved to be a good decision, as he settled swiftly and ended the season with four goals in the last four fixtures, including an audacious floor-bound header against Reims on the final day. This season, in a low-scoring side, his tally of nine goals and five assists, at a rate of 0.30 goals and 0.16 assists per 90 minutes, reads well and is backed up by the underlying numbers (0.22 expected goals and 0.22 expected assists) as per ESPN Stats and Info.
The 22-year-old has unsurprisingly caught the attention of bigger clubs with his performances and output. He has been watched by all of this season's Premier League top four clubs, while Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain have also had him scouted. Reports earlier this month suggested that he had visited Liverpool's Melwood training complex ahead of a potential move to Merseyside, but that was denied by Ntep himself shortly afterwards.
Style
Ntep is a confident and direct winger who thrives in one-on-one situations. He is at his best when stationed on the left and given opportunities to run directly at a full-back, where his rapid acceleration, excellent balance and ability to go either way mean that he is extremely difficult to defend against. He is capable of going down the line to provide a left-footed cross into the area or of darting infield to take a shot on goal off of his favoured right foot.
There are still flashes of the ebullient child whose unpredictable style of play was crafted on the streets of Douala and indulged by youth clubs of varying quality across the suburbs of Paris. There is a cheeky, even impudent, side to his game that sometimes rubs opponents up the wrong way. Yet it would also be fair to say that these excesses have become less common as he has matured and started to provide a more regular end product.
Major Strengths
- a quick, tricky and direct dribbler
- two-footed
- solid finisher and crosser
Major Weaknesses
- awareness of the positioning of teammates
- varied passing accuracy
Assessment Breakdown
Tackling: Makes just over one tackle per match on average, largely when tracking back into a defensive position, although he does occasionally win the ball back higher up the pitch.
Marking: Perhaps not as diligent in carrying out his defensive duties as some of Rennes' other wingers but does track back fairly well when required. The team is quite often organised to allow Ntep to stay upfield and provide a threat on the counter-attack.
Heading: At 5-foot-11, he is far from the tallest and not particularly useful as either an aerial out-ball or as a threat inside the penalty area. However, he does occasionally arrive late and unmarked at the far post for headed attempts on goal, as he did to good effect to score in the 2-1 win over Nice last December.
Close control: With a good first touch, quick feet and swift acceleration, he is a major handful for any defender. He has the third-highest take-on success rate (54.1 percent) among Ligue 1's 20 most prolific dribblers.
Passing: He has completed 64 percent of his passes this season, which is okay for a player of his type. The weighting of his passes does, however, needs to be improved upon, as does his awareness of teammates' positions. When opposition sides double team him, he is often guilty of holding onto the ball too long instead of quickly bringing others into play.
Positioning: Spends most of his time out on the left flank and only moves infield out of possession when an opportunity exists to get in behind the opposition's defence. The timing of his runs is generally good but he struggled as a lone centre-forward in the 1-0 away defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in January.
Crossing: He has worked hard to improve his crossing ability off of his left foot and produced a lovely whipped ball to the far post, headed home by Habib Habibou, for the opening goal in the early-season 2-0 win over Lille. Generally looks to skip past his marker to the byline before providing low, drilled crosses into the area, such as those that yielded both goals in the 2-0 victory at home to Monaco last November.
Finishing: He has taken 1.97 shots per 90 minutes this season, with an on-target accuracy rate of 39 percent. Of the 22 players in Ligue 1 to have scored nine or more goals, only four have done so off of fewer shots per 90 minutes than Ntep.
The large majority of his goals come from inside the penalty area. He is capable of striking the ball well with minimal back-lift and shows a calm head at times, although his finishing does lack precision on occasion.
What The Experts Say
ESPN FC's Julian Laurens: "That's Paul-Georges Ntep for you: cheeky, arrogant, unpredictable, ultra-talented and clearly unique... Soon Rennes will become too small for him. The Premier League is the perfect fit."
French football journalist Andrew Gibney: "Ntep has blistering pace and a keen eye for goal. Defenders find it very hard to stop him cutting in from the left and firing off blistering shots on his right foot."
Conclusion
Ntep has worked hard to improve his game and is approaching readiness for a transfer to a club that is regularly involved in European competition. Rennes are a team who use possession in a very structured and deliberate way, and any side who decides to move for Ntep would be doing so in the hope that his integration into a more attack-minded team would result in an improvement on his already very solid final-third output.
The 22-year-old's combustible side still occasionally rises to the surface. He was involved in a quickly resolved training ground bust-up with coach Philippe Montanier earlier this season and was sent off two minutes after coming onto the pitch in the League Cup win over Marseille last October. There would definitely be an element of risk involved in moving him away from France to another country.
Ntep still has some areas of his game that require further polishing. He is still quite inconsistent, while he needs to improve on bringing others into play when he himself is closely marked. He is, though, a talented player and one who is sure to attract plenty of interest this summer. Another season in Ligue 1 may, however, prove best, particularly as it could give him an outside chance of breaking into the France squad for Euro 2016.[/article]
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