By the person concerned’s own admission, the comparison with Zinedine Zidane weighed down the career of Marvin Martin, unable to meet the expectations placed on him.
Camel Meriem, Samir Nasri, Hatem Ben Arfa, Marvin Martin… There is no shortage of players who were presented as the “new Zidane” in their debut. But this label has often been too heavy to bear for interested players. Marvin Martin, who signed a double plus an assist – in barely fifteen minutes – for his first appearance for the French team, on June 6, 2011, against Ukraine (4-1), recognizes this without difficulty.
These thunderous debuts were reminiscent of those of Zinedine Zidane, also the author of a double for his first in blue against the Czech Republic in the summer of 1994. But the rest would not be of the same ilk . Having moved from Sochaux to Lille where he was expected to take over from Eden Hazard, he was never going to succeed there, having to resolve to join Dijon, then Reims, Chambly and finally Hyères.
And according to him, this comparison with Zinedine Zidane did not do him any good. “I haven’t suffered from it, but it doesn’t help. I put myself in a shell. Zidane was my idol. The level of expectations among people was no longer the same. Being compared to Zidane was too much. I had already spent several years in Ligue 1 but the comparison was enormous. I withdrew into myself, it served me more than anything else”he explained this Wednesday at the microphone of RMC.
And Marvin Martin expresses his concern as young players start earlier and earlier. “Even today, we are starting young people ever younger. The problem is that you have to know how to protect them. Signing professionally should not be an outcome. There are a lot of people who sign and who we don’t really see anymore afterwards.he said. It’s complicated, you have to be mentally strong, even more so with social networks. Before there were several steps, you had to start by making your place to have the right to be in the locker room. It’s going much faster today. Be careful.”
