JAMAL MUSIALA was an artist on and off the pitch as a youngster.
The Germany superstar, who has lit up Euro 2024, grew up in England and attended prestigious private school Whitgift, in Croydon, South London, as a teenager.
Whitgift has a rich recent history of helping produce footballers including Victor Moses and Callum Hudson-Odoi – with Musiala the pick of the bunch.
But the Stuttgart-born lad was unlike most footballers who generally stick together and instead was more of a social butterfly.
And one that also had a passion for a paintbrush in the rare moments he was not honing his talent with a football.
His coach Andrew Martin, who is now Director of Football at Whitgift, recalled to SunSport: “Most footballers can be quite loud, brash and outgoing. Jamal’s the complete opposite, he’s very comfortable in his own skin and in himself.
“He had a real variety of friends which spoke to his character and how approachable he was.
“He knocked about with some other boys in the football team, some in the hockey team and some who didn’t play sport at all.
“Jamal dedicated all his time to football. But he did really well across the board. He was a good student.
“I wouldn’t say he was academically astonishing. But he did very well, his reports were always glowing about his character.
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“He really liked his art. His languages were obviously pretty strong, growing up in Europe.
“He was well liked by teachers and pupils.
“But as soon as he crossed that white line, there was a different side to him, he would switch on to a very determined and driven young man who believed in everything he did on the football pitch.”
Martin is a former Crystal Palace player himself who was a schoolboy at the South London club when Gareth Southgate was still there in the mid 90s.
Two games stick out in the Welshman’s memory from his time working with Musiala, who he still speaks to now and has been in touch with even during the Euros.
One was an Under-12s national cup quarter-final down in Plymouth, when Musiala shrugged off a five-hour coach journey and netted a hat-trick in the first five minutes, eventually bagging seven in a 10-0 win.
The other was in a semi-final in Peterborough a year later when Musiala, a diminutive No9 back then, was in tears at half-time after some rough treatment from the opposition, before having the last laugh as his second-half double secured a 2-1 victory.
Musiala went on to score 129 goals in just 39 matches for Whitgift across Under-12, Under-13 and Under-14 age groups, as he combined his time with the Chelsea academy.
Comparing his former pupils Moses, who went on to win the Premier League with Chelsea, current Nottingham Forest star Hudson-Odoi and Musiala, Martin said: “Victor was a physical specimen of a boy who could dominate games with his pace and athleticism.
“Callum could literally do anything and everything, he was streets ahead of anything I’ve ever had before in terms of being able to be the complete package.
“Jamal was an out-and-out No9, the features he showed at school he shows now.
“His close-quarters dribbling, his receiving, his goals.
“The way he dribbles with the ball now on the telly in front of millions was exactly how he moved it when he was 12 or 13, his style of movement.
“If you put two clips together from then and now, they would be identical.”
Whitgift have a massive poster of Musiala pinned up on their state-of-the-art Sports Hall, along with images of fellow alumni Moses, Hudson-Odoi and rugby star Elliot Daly.
The Bayern Munich attacker’s old school is proud as punch with what he is achieving with his life.
And there will be plenty of fans cheering him on all the way back in Croydon when Musiala’s Germany take on Denmark in the last 16 of the Euros on Sunday.
Martin, 44, added: “There is a huge pride in what the young man is doing at the moment.
“Not just on the pitch but off it too. He’s not splashed across the front of papers, he lets his football do the talking.
“I’m lucky enough to still be in contact with Jamal and his mum and dad.
“Jamal and his mum invited me out to watch Bayern last year. It was great to see him play at the Allianz Arena.
“Sadly I won’t get out to Germany due to it still being the school term.
“But as a Welshman, I’m actually supporting Germany because we didn’t qualify!”
KOBBIE MAINOO was always my preference to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold in England’s midfield, writes Jack Wilshere.
I think he showed why in the second half against Slovenia.
But I still feel that it was harsh on Conor Gallagher that he was taken off at half time.
Firstly because it was probably our best half of the tournament.
And secondly, because it didn’t feel like a Gareth Southgate thing to do.
It will knock Gallagher’s confidence for sure.
He will have thought that this was his chance, but he only gets a half.
Having said that, despite the disappointing result, the second half was better and Mainoo proved he is the man – or boy – to play there in future.
Read Jack Wilshere’s post-match verdict in full.
Or check out all of Jack’s Euro 2024 columns.
