'Without his broken leg, he would be at Barcelona' - Who is Isaac Lihadji?

All you need to know about new Sunderland signing Isaac Lihadji.

Sunderland have completed the signing of Isaac Lihadji from Lille, making him their second addition in the January transfer window.

It is certainly an eye-catching deal, and it will likely be very cost effective given his Lille contract was about to expire.

However, while Isaac Lihadji is a name very well-known to youth scouts at Europe’s biggest clubs, few fans will know anything about him.

So, just who is Isaac Lihadji?

Isaac Lihadji the youth prodigy

Lihadji started his football journey at Septemes-les-Vallons, a club which at one time had Zinedine Zidane on their books.

While no Zidane, Lihadji did have his admirers. He was at a good enough level to attract the interest of Barcelona and he was on the verge of a move to the La Liga giants when just 13-years-old, but a fractured shin put paid to that.

"Without his broken leg, he would be at Barca," Michael Zamora, the Barcelona youth scout who spotted Lihadji, told L'Equipe.

Instead, he joined Marseille at 14, and he immediately caused some excitement. In 2019 he started making inroads into the first-team picture and he made two appearances from the bench before a contract dispute stopped him in his tracks.

"I'm waiting for the signature to give him [Lihadji] some game time,” then Marseille boss Andre Villas-Boas said.

"I could take advantage of having Lihadji right now, but why? So that he then plays for Monaco, or for PSG? What interest is there for OM, his training club, in that?”

The vultures started circling. Manchester United, Arsenal, Tottenham and Dortmund were all credited with a serious interest, but he opted to remain in France to continue his development and signed for Lille.

Lille misadventure

That move to Lille has not worked out too well. The stats will tell you he has played 39 times for the Ligue 1 side in two and a half years, but they are misleading.

The fact is, only three of those have been starts and he hasn’t played a single minute of first-team football this season.

That is because Lille essentially decided to give up on him last summer. They tried to move him out, and when we didn’t leave he incurred the wrath of the president.

“Isaac’s future isn’t at Lille,” the club’s president Olivier Létang said in September. “There were a few offers and propositions. The player declined a few of them.

“We don’t want him to just go anywhere, but to a club where he can flourish. There were some great opportunities. I didn’t understand his choice. I have told him that. It’s up to him to decide what he wants to do, whether he wants to play football or not.”

International career

Isaac Lihadji has represented France at every level from the under-16s upwards, with the obvious exception of earning a senior cap.

He was a star of the 2019 under-17 World Cup, helping France to the semi-finals before Brazil eliminated them.

Lihadji has two caps for the France under-21 team, scoring one goal against Liechtenstein, but he most recently played for the under-20s

Although born in France, he is also eligible to play internationally for Comoros.

Isaac Lihadji style of play

Lihadji is a left-footed right winger who boasts close control, exciting dribbling skills and an impressive turn of pace.

As you’d expect, that makes him very effective in one-v-one situations, although he is not obsessed with cutting inside like many inverted wingers can be.

In fact, he is very comfortable to go on the outside of full-backs too while driving into the box. 

His style is very reminiscent of Amad Diallo, which suggests he is the man Sunderland see as succeeding the Ivorian when he goes back to Manchester United in the summer. 

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