Mohamed Kader Meïté: 21 minutes to break the internet
How the massive teenage forward changed a game
Jake Entwistle, SCOUTED’s striker expert, branded Mohamed Kader Meïté “the most exciting centre-forward prospect in Europe.” He is, Jake says, a leading example of modern football’s new favourite meta.
That meta is particularly profound in French football. Born in Créteil, a suburb of Paris, Meïté developed through a number of local junior teams before moving to Stade Rennais at the age of 15, the earliest at which players can move from their immediate locality to pursue opportunities elsewhere. The greater Paris region is an incredible producer of talent; almost every club the length and breadth of France profit from the capital’s exports.
Meïté has developed rapidly at Rennes. Scoring regularly for the U-19 and B teams, he led the former to a prestigious Coupe Gambardella triumph this year, as captain and top scorer, while featuring in first-team squads since making his senior debut in January.
His most notable moment in Britanny came this past weekend, when he carried a comeback against Olympique Lyonnais. He scored one, forced another, all as a second-half substitute in the primetime Sunday night slot. The cameo performance has gone viral on social media, and the intricacies of it underline why Jake is so excited about him. Let’s break it down, play by play.
Mohamed Kader Meïté came on in the 69th minute, replacing summer signing Breel Embolo with Rennes chasing an equaliser. Prior to that, the hosts had been banging against a stubborn OL defence—but couldn’t find the breakthrough.
From the off, Meïté lined up as one of the two forwards in an aggressive 3-1-4-2 shape.
This goal kick situation lays the plan of action out perfectly: they have to find an equaliser and they’re going man-for-man across the pitch to get on. Faced with an aggressive press, OL struggle to string three passes together, concede a throw-in deep in their own half, and Meïté is ready to punish them for it.
As soon as the throw-in is conceded, the big man has his long arm in the air, demanding the quick throw, having checked his shoulder to see the acres of space he finds himself in. There's an urgency to his thinking already.
