Stephy Mavididi, once part of the youth setup at Arsenal, and now making waves at Leicester City, has demonstrated moments of significant promise.
At 25 and competing in the Championship, this season presents a pivotal opportunity for him to prove his consistency and realise his full potential.
Stephy Mavididi, the 25-year-old Leicester City winger, has been a player of much promise but equally of much frustration.
His early career began at Arsenal, where he was part of the youth setup from the age of 13.
He later moved to French clubs Dijon and Montpellier, displaying moments of extraordinary skill but never quite achieving consistent performance levels.
Mavididi was sold by Arsenal to Juventus for €1.5m in 2018 before making his €7.5m move from Montpellier to Leicester City.
His recent performances for Leicester indicates that he is at a crucial stage in his career, and many are urging him to seize this opportunity.
“Talent-wise, you could see the Englishman’s quality. I’d watch him for Dijon and Montpellier and think ‘There’s a player who is capable of providing ten goals and ten assists every season’,” said Adam Virgo from The Football League Paper.
However, despite the promise, Mavididi’s statistics tell a different story. In his first season at Montpellier, he scored nine goals but didn’t provide any assists. In the subsequent season, he scored eight goals and managed three assists. This lack of consistency led him to Leicester City, which currently competes in the Championship, rather than securing a position at a Premier League club despite reported interest over the summer.
It’s evident that Mavididi has a lot of work to do. “He still makes poor decisions. But he’s playing for a side at the top of the table, under a manager in Enzo Maresca who plays good football. He’s seeing a lot of the ball and getting plenty of opportunities to improve,” wrote Virgo. During his current stint at Leicester City, Mavididi has recorded three goals and three assists in 15 games, still falling short of the consistency needed for a player aiming for a top-tier football career.
From an Arsenal perspective, Mavididi’s early promise made him one of the brighter prospects within the club’s youth system.
Signed from Southend at just 13, he made 41 appearances for Arsenal’s U21s, scoring 21 goals and assisting four, made five appearances for the U18s scoring twice, and 18 appearances for Arsenal’s U19s, scoring five goals.
However, he never broke into the first team, which was a significant disappointment for a player with such early promise.
The sentiment is that Mavididi is at a crucial crossroads in his career. “There comes a time in your career when the penny needs to drop. Slowly but surely, I do think that’s happening,” said Virgo.
As he currently plays in the Championship, there’s hope that this will serve as a proving ground for him to finally showcase the talent that many have seen but which has yet to manifest consistently.