Mahrez: From non-league reject to Player of the Year front-runner

It could've been so different.

When Riyad Mahrez, a scruffy 18-year-old from the the tough Parisian suburb of Sarcelles, travelled for a trial in Brittany on a pitch that had a tree stump as the coaches' technical area, the watching Quimper scouts soon realised this player was the one of 22 that they wanted.

He was an inquisitive teenager, but extremely raw. He brought just a toothbrush, toothpaste, and football boots to the tryout; his footballing experience up until that point was on a local pitch in his native capital city suburb. But that sweet left foot and effortless dribbling ability was apparent, and Quimper made efforts to sign him - until the financial restraints at the non-league side suddenly scuppered the deal.

"Riyad was so disappointed, he called his mum almost burning in tears," Christoph Marchand, a journalist based in the ancient northwestern town told the BBC World Service.

"The president saw his desperation and 24 hours later he had signed a contact. Maybe if Riyad didn't have this reaction, he wouldn't have got the contract."

Mathias Pogba, brother of French superstar Paul Pogba, wasn't overly impressed with his new untidy roommate who he had to "domesticate," but confesses that the pair shared the same vice.

"We had a bad diet. Bad, bad, bad. Always eating steak and french fries," he explained. "We lived a proper student life. Two boys, can't cook; having takeaway, always out."

Eventually, Mahrez's incredible potential attracted the attentions of Le Havre, a breeding ground for many of the game's Gallic greats. It was there that Leicester City assistant manager Steve Walsh spotted him when he was supposed to be watching somebody else, and the Foxes snapped him up despite Mahrez having no top-flight experience and only being three-and-a-half years removed from seventh-tier French football.

The rest, as they say, is history. The winger is the front-runner for this year's PFA Player of the Year, emerging from obscurity and making some of the most prestigious left-backs in the Premier League look completely stolen of both ideas and belief.

His humble beginnings and oversight from clubs in Paris and Le Havre, who didn't value the slight yet considerable menace, should send the scouting policies of many French clubs back to the drawing board - in a similar vein to how Crystal Palace has started delving into the English non-league for players, trying to find its own Jamie Vardy.

It should also mark a rethink in coaching policies. Leicester saw a player afraid of the tackle and one who could complain when felled. But the coaching staff persevered due to his considerable talents, and simply didn't call a foul during 11v11 training matches, even when he was scythed down.

"It was cruel to be kind," said Kevin Phillips, who was coaching at Leicester at the time. "If we'd have kept giving him foul after foul that's what he would have expected at the weekend. We wanted to see a reaction.

"To begin he was a bit sulky, but as time went on he learnt to deal with it. He grew to know when to pass or when to take someone on."

Not only will common sense and patience hopefully be more prevalent on the training pitches of England and France, Mahrez's influence inevitably spreads into Algeria. It was his father Ahmed's homeland, where Mahrez Sr. represented various small teams, but he was cruelly taken away when his second son Riyad was 15 due to a heart condition.

The 25-year-old has since fulfilled his dad's dreams, not only on the club level but in his 24 caps with the Desert Foxes. His stock in Algeria has surpassed that of fellow international stars Islam Slimani, Yacine Brahimi, and Sofiane Feghouli, seeing his No. 14 on Leicester blue flying off the stalls in Algiers as the locals strive to emulate their new hero.

"Before Mahrez, Leicester were unknown in Algeria where Liverpool was the most popular club," sports daily Liberte journalist Samir Lamari said.

"Now it is the most popular club in the country, supported by more than five million people, with the Premier League watched more than the local Ligue 1."

Talks of Mahrez moving to Spain to join his beloved Barcelona are gathering momentum, with Catalonia great Xavi even voicing his admiration for the Sarcelles lad. It would mark quite the rise for Mahrez.

Good job he also packed that left foot at the Quimper trial.