Birthday Boys- Ferland Mendy and Kamil Grosicki

In today’s edition of the Birthday Boys we explore the career of Real Madrid full-back Ferland Mendy and West Brom and Poland wideman Kamil Grosicki.

Ferland Mendy

The French full-back has had a rapid rise in his career so far which has seen him sign for the Los Blancos but where did it all stem from for Mendy.

He started his career at AC Le Havre in the summer of 2015 after getting his professional contract advancing from their B team. In his first campaign he would make 11 appearances assisting on one occasion.

His breakthrough campaign was the next season in which Mendy would be a regular feature in the Ligue 2 side featuring 38 times scoring two goals and assisting five times.

In the summer of 2017, Olympique Lyon signed the full-back for £4 million. 35 appearances in all competitions for the Ligue 1 club saw Mendy assist four times that season.

For the first time in his career he made over 40 appearances making 44 in the 2018-19 season scoring three times and assisting three times.

Real Madrid would sign the left-back in July 2019 for £43 million and has found to make 22 appearances assisting twice.

He’s made four appearances for the French national team with his debut coming in November 2018 in a 1-0 win against Uruguay.

Just the one trophy for Mendy in his career which was the Spanish Supercup this season.

Kamil Grosicki

The Polish wide midfielder turns 32 today and has had a good career for the last 15 years that he has played but where did it all start from for Grosicki.

The winger started his career for him hometown club Pogon Szczecin where he would sign his professional contract in July 2006 where he would make 21 appearances, score two goals and provide four assists.

He would move to Legia Warszawa the following summer for £200,000. 12 appearances for the club from the capital and he would be loaned out to Sion in February until September.

He would make 11 appearances for the Swiss team as he returned back to Poland and went out on loan again to Jagiellonia Bialystok in January 2009 as he didn’t get much game time at Legia.

In his short loan spell spent in Bialystok, he made 13 appearances scoring four goals and assisting four times as the Polish club made the move permanent that summer.

In the next one and a half year, he would make 56 appearances scoring 11 goals and assisting 17 goals in the process as Turkish side Sivasspor signed the Pole in January 2011 for under £1 million.

He spent around two and a half years in Turkey as he managed to appear over 100 times for the Super Lig club scoring 16 goals and assisting 26 times.

Moving to his time in France now and he moved to Stade Rennais from Turkey. Four years in France have served Grosicki well as he managed to play in Ligue 1 and be a key figure for the club. 92 appearances for the Ligue 1 club with 15 goals and 13 assists saw him move to England.

On January transfer deadline day of the 2016-17 season Hull City fighting to stay up snapped up the winger from Rennes. They did not stay up but, Grosicki played some great football for Hull. 126 games for Hull City bagging 26 goals and grabbing 27 assists saw the Pole snapped up by a promotion fighting Championship club.

West Brom were the one who signed Grosicki in January 2020 as he has managed seven appearances and one assist for the club so far.

Internationally, he has made 73 appearances for the Polish national team scoring 13 goals for the national team after making his debut in 2008.

He’s a two time Polish Cup winner and one time Polish Supercup winner with those being his only trophies in his career.