It was Friday the 9th September 2016 and I just confirmed a partnership to work with and train Celtic Football Clubs newest acquisition and one of French/European footballs most promising talents, Moussa Dembele!
The following day just so happened to be one of world footballs biggest derbies, the ‘old firm’, Celtic v Rangers. Up to this point Moussa had been settling in to a new city, a new club and a new style of football whilst also trying to get his shot ahead of Leigh Griffiths who had been Celtics main striker for the previous 2 seasons. Some things in life happen for a reason and this was the day Moussa would get his chance as Griffiths was injured and Moussa would be starting as the lone striker against Rangers in his first old firm Derby.
What I witnessed and everyone watching that day witnessed was a young man with no fear step up and grab this opportunity with both hands. 90 mins and a hat-trick later Moussa had put in a man of the match performance that would put himself down in history as Celtic won 5-1. I remember thinking to myself during and after the game, I’m going to be working with the aim of improving this young man who has just scored a hat-trick in his first old firm derby, how do you top that?
Speed, Power, Strength, Balance and Agility, these are some of the key attributes to the modern day athlete and specifically a top modern day footballer.
It is great to focus on the positives but with Moussa it was about the complete package. We could sit down and discuss all day the many good attributes Moussa had but instead we looked to improve on what was already good but what is more important, we focused on the weaker parts of Moussa to help his overall performance.
This is not a criticism, this is a very mature and positive part of training and Moussa was very aware of what he needed, what he wanted and what he had to do.
The training itself consisted of pitch sessions and gym sessions. The hard work that was done in the gym was converted on to the pitch to replicate match like situations and use the advances made in the gym to develop Moussa’s explosive speed, power and agility on the pitch.
Let me be clear, this is not a simple process, this takes great desire, commitment and sacrifice. Not from me but from Moussa, what you have is a young 20 year old man from France living on his own in a new city making the conscious decision to apply himself whole heartedly to his profession and his football. You could be forgiven to some extent at that age to be distracted by other things, after all you have the fame, fans that adore you and living a rewarding life but this was not Moussa. Everything was professional, and everything was done in an admirable way. Sleep, nutrition, hydration and training.
There are many ways to interpret the advancements and the results of Moussa’s training. You could breakdown to the finer detail how much sharper Moussa got, how his speed improved, how his strength grew or how his leap got higher. In fact I remember Moussa telling me one day during a session how he could see the difference in himself in a week where we did not train before a game to a week where he did. ‘I feel unstoppable’ when I have trained. Anyone who has trained hard and competed at any level will know what Moussa means when saying this. It is not an arrogant statement, it is a statement that shows the confidence in your body, and the confidence to go out and perform on the pitch. To go back to how we can interpret the results of Moussa’s training then we have to look at the following
I don’t think I have to say much in relation to that, the countless awards both as part of a team and personally go a long way to show how much Moussa has achieved through his own dedication to himself as an athlete, as a footballer and as a professional.
This is not an endorsement of myself, this is credit to a young man who has applied himself and I feel privileged to have been able to help, assist and support Moussa on this journey. This is also testimony to the training, not to my training, not to Moussa’s training but to the importance of sports performance training in the career of a modern day athlete.
Unfortunately there are always moments where people have to move on to improve themselves and challenge themselves. This is not unique to football and happens in all professions and all walks of life. Moussa is a young man who has always been judged ahead of his years but is a young man that I knew from day 1 of meeting him that would continually be looking to improve and be the best he possibly can be.
One moment that stands out to me that I knew was a clear sign that Moussa was ready to take on a new challenge was in the semi final of the Scottish cup in 2018 when Moussa scored a Panenka penalty (chipped the goalkeeper) in an old firm derby against Rangers.
To take such a penalty takes great technique but great confidence. But the most telling part about this moment was that to do this in such a pressurised environment showed to me that Moussa no longer felt like he was playing under pressure. Moussa had surpassed the pressure on him at this point of his career and every player intent on getting better and improving needs to be playing under pressure. Again this is not a negative or a criticism but testimony to how Moussa had improved in the 2 seasons up to this point.
Consequently, similarly to my reaction after Moussa’s first game against Rangers when he scored his hat-trick. I also said to myself after this Panenka penalty that I knew Moussa would be moving on very soon. Between Moussa and myself we always joked about the moment he would do a Panenka with Moussa promising me that he would do it and would choose his moment. It is not surprising at all that this happened on this stage and I remember the words from Moussa after the game, ‘I told you I would’.
In August of 2018 Moussa signed for Olympique Lyon in France for £22 million. 2 years of hard work has led to a move in Moussa’s career that will only see him improve and I could not be happier for him. You hear people talk about talent versus hard work or how hard work beats talent when talent does not work hard but Moussa has merged the two and showed how the combination of talent and hard work only brings success and rewards.
I look forward to working with Moussa in the future and what the future will bring in Lyon and beyond……