It is the story of a player who could have, and perhaps even should have, become a great in his own city. In the early 2010s, Kingsley Coman seemed destined to become a Paris Saint-Germain superstar. The early chapters of his relationship with the capital club played out like a footballing romance. Born in Paris, the young Frenchman first laced up his boots on the city’s outskirts, in Seine-et-Marne. Encouraged by his father, a devoted PSG fan, he joined the club’s academy in 2005 at just nine years old. Coman, a precocious talent, quickly rose through the ranks, earning a place in the top youth sides. The coaching staff were utterly smitten with the young phenom.
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Laurent Bonadei, then one of his youth coaches and now in charge the France women’s national team, looked back fondly on those halcyon days when speaking to Eurosport. “Kingsley had a great mindset. He was a year ahead at school, very bright. You didn’t need to repeat instructions; he absorbed everything straight away. You could already see his capacity to perform at the highest level.”
And perform he did. In February 2013, at the age of 16 years, eight months and four days, Coman came off the bench to replace Marco Verratti in a 3-2 defeat to Sochaux, becoming the youngest player in the club’s history to don the Paris shirt in a competitive match (a record broken by Warren Zaire-Emery in 2022). France U-17 coach Patrick Gonfalone told Le Parisien: “He’s talented, well-rounded and very intelligent. There’s nothing left for him to learn at U-17 level. Even with the U-19s, he’s already the best.”
Carlo Ancelotti, then at the helm of PSG, was won over, as were his staff. The fans, too, were enchanted by the gifted youngster. But – there is so often a but – even as everyone in the club recognised Coman’s vast potential, he was beginning to realise that his future at PSG was littered with obstacles. Les Rouge et Bleu were busy assembling a fearsome frontline – Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Javier Pastore, Edinson Cavani, Ezequiel Lavezzi – which would inevitably leave the teenage Coman fighting for scraps when it came to meaningful minutes.
In their rush to make a mark on the European stage, the capital club splashed out on established stars and marquee signings. Astonishingly, Coman never signed a professional contract with PSG. In the end, he made just four appearances for his boyhood club.
Coman is not the only Parisian talent the club let slip through their fingers – Christopher Nkunku, Mike Maignan and Moussa Diaby are other examples – but his departure is undoubtedly the most emblematic. Having spotted his prodigious ability, other European powerhouses came calling, and Coman opted for a fresh start abroad in 2014. First came Juventus FC, then FC Bayern München, where through hard work and determination he has established himself as a mainstay in the team, a status he maintains to this day.
As if lifted from a Hollywood screenplay, it was Coman who delivered the cruellest of blows to his former employers in what was then the biggest match in Parisian footballing history. His header in the 2020 UEFA Champions League final sealed a 1-0 win for Bayern, leaving PSG to lament what might have been. Lightening struck twice in the first leg of the 2022-23 Champions League round-of-16 tie, when the winger once again proved the difference, scoring the match’s only goal. “I grew up at this club, it’s my home town,” Coman said after the match. “It’s complicated. That’s why I didn’t want to celebrate.”
His home town, yes, but no longer his club. The Frenchman is still plying his trade for Bayern, and he will relish yet another epic reunion with Les Rouge et Bleu in the quarter-finals of the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™, on Saturday, 5 July. Despite coming off with an injury in the 58th minute of PSG’s 4-2 triumph over CR Flamengo in the previous round, he will be fit and firing for this latest heavyweight bout between two genuine contenders for the crown.
And yet, while his allegiance lies firmly with Bayern, Coman has never forgotten his Parisian roots. There are no jabs or barbed comments, merely profound respect and fond memories for the club where it all began.
