Mathis Amougou: Chelsea's 'complete' new midfield signing who could turn out to be a €15m bargain

Now 19 years old, Amougou was born alongside a twin brother to Cameroonian parents in January 2006 in the north-eastern Parisian suburb of Le Blanc-Mesnil - a stone's throw from the Bondy neighbourhood that French international stars Kylian Mbappe and William Saliba call home.

Amougou has always been surrounded by football in a part of the world that has become a conveyor belt for talent; he was first exposed to the beautiful game at his older brother's training sessions and played with his siblings on the touchline at his father's Sunday League matches.

After his family moved further east out of the city, he joined his first club, Entente Brie Est, aged six and then Torcy closer to Paris in 2014. There he would play well above his age grade and was enrolled in France's prestigious national football academy, Clairefontaine, where he was named captain of his age group.

Having been scouted by Saint-Etienne and after training with their academy, Amougou officially joined Les Verts in 2021 aged 15. By the age of 16, he already had an outfitting contract with German sportswear giant adidas.

It did not take Amougou long to make an impression in his new surroundings, with the then-16-year-old earning a swift promotion to Saint-Etienne's second team, who play in France's fifth tier, in 2022. He would make his international bow the same year, turning out for France's U16s before being quickly moved up to the U17 group.

Although he was yet to make his first-team debut for Les Verts, the teenager was handed his first professional contract in April 2023 at the age of 17 - a demonstration of the club's belief in the young midfielder's ability.

It was the 2023-24 campaign that proved to be something of a breakthrough; Amougou starred for France at the U17 World Cup in Indonesia, scoring a sublime early goal against South Korea in the group stage and a vital 85th-minute equaliser in the final before Les Bleuets were defeated by Germany on penalties. He was subsequently awarded the Bronze Ball having been voted the third-best player at the tournament.

A week later, he was given his senior Saint-Etienne debut in a Coupe de France loss to Nimes in December 2023. Amougou's Ligue 2 bow then followed a few days shy of his 18th birthday in January 2024 as he came off the bench against Laval, although that would be his only appearance on that stage all season as he continued with the B team while Les Stephanois secured promotion back to Ligue 1.

To say it's been a whirlwind seven months for the teenager since the beginning of the new season would be a huge understatement. After helping France to the final of the U19 Euros in the summer, Amougou was permanently integrated into the first-team setup at Saint-Etienne by former manager Olivier Dall'Oglio.

Surprisingly, the 18-year-old was a starter right from the off as the 2024-25 campaign got underway, making a very assured Ligue 1 debut against Monaco on the opening day. "Mathis does not surprise me," Dall'Oglio said in August. "Since he returned [from international duty], he brings an extra touch, his technique and his vision of the game.

"This summer, I felt he was a player who was freed from many constraints to play with us. He has more maturity in his game. In the friendly matches, he showed a lot of qualities. He has moved up a notch."

Although he would lose his starting place in October amid Les Verts' overall struggles, and despite his lack of senior experience, it seems Amougou had already done enough to pique Chelsea's interest - a club that cannot resist spending big on high-potential youngsters at the moment.

As the January transfer window ticked down, the Blues sprung on deadline day to sign the inexperienced Amougou for a cool €15m (£12m/$16m), on a lengthy eight-year contract, having been left short of midfield options with injury-plagued Romeo Lavia sidelined again and Carney Chukwuemeka leaving for Borussia Dortmund on loan.

Predictably, the Frenchman has had to be patient as he gets to grips with the rigours of the English game, but head coach Enzo Maresca did hand him a seven-minute debut cameo off the bench in the demolition of Southampton at Stamford Bridge at the end of February. Although the 19-year-old understandably looked a little shaky, he completed all seven of the passes he attempted in his brief time on the pitch.

Amougou has an all-action approach and shows serious promise as a shuttling box-to-box midfielder who is comfortable with the ball at his feet, passing forward and crashing into tackles.

Saint-Etienne sporting director Loic Perrin previously described him as "a complete player, intelligent in the game, clean in his way of playing", while his former manager Dall'Oglio said of him: "Compared to his age, he is a boy who is mature, he is calm, he takes a step back and he is capable of thinking well on the pitch. He quickly understands tactically on the pitch."

The step up to the Premier League is of course a significant one, but France youth coach Jean-Luc Vannuchi believes Amougou has the attributes to make it to the top. He told Poteaux Carres: "He is a good team-mate. He is really a good boy, good in every way. Mathis has very good ability to project himself, whether with or without the ball.

"He is capable of breaking lines in possession. Mathis is a player who likes to take spaces without the ball, he is always demanding. He has variety. Mathis is a boy who covers a lot of ground. He has good quality of passing, a good reading of the game and his projection in front of the goal also allows him to score."

Vannuchi added: "Mathis is someone who does not hide, he always offers solutions to the ball carrier. He often manages to get out of it with a good pass or by eliminating the opponent. In my eyes, he is a player who is complete, even if of course there is still work to be done."

Unsurprisingly, at 19 years old there is indeed plenty of work and development still to be done. You need only have watched his seven-minute Chelsea debut to see Amougou is a little rough around the edges, but there is nothing that can't be ironed out with experience.

Now-former Saint-Etienne boss Dall'Oglio said in the summer: "His areas for improvement? This is particularly in terms of the final pass and finishing. He will be a player who will also be capable of scoring goals in the future, even if he is a box-to-box midfielder, a defensive midfielder. He can still work on this final pass and on his long game."

His France U17 coach Vannuchi noted that he must also work on his weak foot, saying: "He must improve on his bad foot, Mathis is aware that his left foot is perfectible."

Amougou has a long way to go to match his level, but he is arguably most similar to another ex-Ligue 1 player in Newcastle lynchpin Bruno Guimaraes when it comes to established stars. Both are bustling, physical midfielders with an eye for a pass and a fondness for a big tackle who look to contribute at both ends of the pitch.

The player himself takes inspiration from more forward-thinking midfield players. "I do not have an example," he told Onze Mondial in 2022. "However, I am inspired by several players like Kevin De Bruyne or Jude Bellingham. I like their creativity, their quality of passing and their vision of the game. They are impressive."

It was believed that Amougou might be loaned to BlueCo-owned Strasbourg in Ligue 1 immediately after signing for Chelsea given his lack of senior experience, but that is not what transpired as he remained at Stamford Bridge. There could be a loan move back to France in his future, but for now Maresca has insisted the midfielder will be given an adaptation period in his new surroundings.

"We didn't sign him thinking he's going to play an important part with us [immediately]," the Italian said in February. "The reason why is because of the age and we need the process. The reason we signed him is because we think he's a good player and in some moment, after a while, we think he can help us.

"Mathis is the same age as Josh [Acheampong], Tyrique [George], Marc Guiu - born in 2006. He's just 19. At that age, if they're here it's because we think they're good but they could be better. With Mathis, it's more or less the same. We saw he could be a good player, but he needs to arrive here, adapt and progress."

Amougou's short-term future should become clearer in the summer, but if he can impress in the meantime he could prove to be a bargain and might just be kept around.