Kingsley Coman. A French footballer born in Paris, France on the 13th June 1996. He started his youth career in 2002, at the meer age of 6 with US Senart-Moissy who are a fifth division French club. He stayed and trained with this club for two years before moving to first division side Paris Saint-Germain, from here he spent 9 years with the cub progressing through the ranks and eventually making his first-team debut in 2013 coming on as a late substitute for Marco Verratti. Coman is the youngest player to play professionally for the Paris club at the age of 16 years, 8 months and 4 days. 6 months later, he made his cup debut in France against Girondins de Bordeaux in the 74th minute coming on, again, as a substitute, this time for Ezequiel Lavezzi.
On July 7th, 2014, Kingsley signed a five-year deal with Juventus after rejecting Premier League hopefuls Arsenal and Liverpool following his contract expiring at PSG. He made his competitive Serie A debut on the 30th August the same year against Chievo in a 1–0 victory.
Coman appeared as a late substitute in the 2015 Champions League final coming on for country-man Patrice Evra against Barcelona where Juventus were beaten on the night and in which Kingsley was able to pick up a runners-up medal.
On 30th August 2015, Kingsley initially signed a two-year loan deal with German club Bayern Munich for a fee of 7 million euros which was to be paid in two installments with an option to buy for a fee of 21 million euros upto the date of his loan expiring. He was assigned the number 29 for the season.
He made his Bundesliga debut on the 12 September 2015 replacing Arturo Vidal in the 56th minute in a 2–1 victory over Augsburg at the Allianz. The next matchday, Coman was given his first Bundesliga start in which he scored against, now Bundesliga 2. club Darmstadt.
Kingsley finished the 2015/16 season with 23 appearances (starting 20), scoring 4 and assisting 6 and the following 2016/17 season he finished with 19 total appearances (starting 10), 2 goals and 1 assist, no improvements in any categories but which can be understandable as he started 10 less games and 4 total less games due to the influx of Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery and Thomas Muller.
This season, Kingsley was in fine form, playing 21 matches (starting 10) and racking up 915 minutes of game time up until the 24th February, where in a match against Hertha Berlin, he sustained an ankle injury ruling him out of action for at least two months. The game finished 0–0 but it was overshadowed by the injury Kingsley received. Before this injury, Coman was successful in Champions League fixtures he played, scoring twice in 6 games, against Celtic and Besiktas where he only played a total of 389 minutes. Another tournament Kingsley played well throughout was the DFL Pokal, playing a total of 281 minutes and starting 3/5 games scoring twice.
Christmas came early for Bayern fans when it was announced that Coman had signed a contract extension with the club until 2023, adding another 5 years to his current contract clause.
Kingsley Coman v Anthony Martial.
Aside from the fact Coman plays with a much better team than Martial, Coman is just so much more explosive when cutting and dribling.
After this incredible match (Bayern 4–2 Juventus, and for those of you poor souls that missed the match of the season), Coman proved he can be a game changer and more so that he can finish impeccably. This season we’ve seen Coman constantly dribbling down the right, cut on the outside to the right to swing in a cross. Very contrary to what Arjen Robben does, which is dribble down the right, but instead cut to the left on the inside to shoot, but yesterday, Coman showed us he can be an Arjen Robben too, which highlights his versatility as a forward; truly an asset to his overall game.
Martial on the other hand is good, but I think he gets played out of position (something Coman is also experiencing but is getting used to) on the wing and even though his close control and dribbling is quite promising, he doesn’t have that explosive physicality that Coman possesses. Coman for Bayern is as important as Ribery or Robben, giving him a better reputation than Martial when it comes to being experienced.
This season Coman has played 21 league matches (starting 10) while Martial has played 30 league matches (starting 18), both players starting over half the games they’ve played. In terms of goals, Coman has scored 3 goals (0 penalties) while Martial has 9 goals (1 penalty).
In Champions League, Coman has played 6 times to Martial’s 4, with Coman scoring twice and Martial only scoring once which came from the penalty spot. So it seems that Coman can be more relied on in European matches, while Martial is your go to man for league fixtures.
Internationally though, both players have rarely played but have had their game time under Deschamps. In World Cup qualifying, Coman played three times scoring twice with Martial playing twice and scoring once. So it seems Coman is preferred on the international front and with his good form, long may this continue.
Personally, I see Coman as the better player and this isn’t me being biased in any way shape or form. Coman is more involved than Martial is in European competition and Internationally, but Martial is more involved in the league games which is more important as league games take up a large majority of the season.
