Angel Gomes exclusive: 'No age on leadership' – Ex-Man Utd midfielder on what makes young Lille team special

Lille attacking midfielder Angel Gomes believes part of what makes his young team special is that there "is no age on leadership", while he branded Jonathan David "the most selfless striker" he has played with.

Gomes was speaking exclusively to TNT Sports before the Ligue 1 game against Le Havre on Saturday, 16:00 UK time kick-off, which can be watched live on TNT Sports and discovery+.

The 23-year-old is one of a handful of young stars who have shone this season under Paulo Fonseca, reaching the knockout stages of the UEFA Europa Conference League and pushing hard to qualify for the UEFA Champions League again.

The two centre-backs, Leny Yoro and Alexsandro Ribeiro, are 18 and 24 respectively. Goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier is 22, right-back Tiago Santos is 21 and out wide there is Edon Zhegrova who is 24.

In a league that is no stranger to players getting their opportunities early, Lille’s incredible academy and scouting networks mean they are often at the forefront of that trend. However, whilst some teams may struggle with young players finding their way, that isn’t the case at Lille - and Gomes thinks there is a pretty clear reason why.

“At Lille, there's not really an age on leadership or for demanding things from each other,” Gomes explains to TNT Sports from Lille’s training centre. “I think we demand a lot from each other.

“If you start then you're starting for a reason, you've got the trust from the coach, got the trust from the players. So for example, if a player needs to be somewhere on the pitch, there's no feeling like you can't speak because of your age and I think that's a positive because you grow with that and you mature as a young player.”

That trust has to come from a manager and it is clear that in Fonseca, Lille have found the perfect complement to their ideals.

The predecessor to Jose Mourinho at Roma, Fonseca had long been linked with a move to the Premier League only for it never come off, meaning he was available when Lille ended Jocelyn Gourvennec’s tenure after just one season. And whilst there have been ups and downs, there is no doubting the impact he has had on his players.

“It's been amazing to work under a manager that lives and breathes football, a bit similar to myself,” Gomes says.

“I think his ideas are great. The way he prepares us for games, his enthusiasm, his charisma. I think for young players, it's what you need in a manager. I think myself and a lot of the other players in the team couldn't ask for a better person to be overseeing and looking after us at this moment in time.”

As a more diminutive player - he is 5"6' - Gomes is used to be overlooked. But he explains that from the moment he arrived, Fonseca made it clear that he wasn’t bothered by his height and knew that the attacking midfielder would be a key cog in his plans.

And as it turns out that cog can often be placed in different parts of the machine. Primarily an attacking midfielder when he was younger, Gomes has played as a No. 10, deeper as an eight or even a six, and sometimes out on the wings.

For Gomes, it’s not about being a No. 10 specifically or even just locking into one primary role.

“No, it's just about contributing and being on the ball," he says.

"When I play in different positions, it's because the coach specifically wants a certain thing from the game or wants a certain thing for me to do from the game. So sometimes on paper I could be seen as the No. 10 but I'm not playing necessarily like a No. 10 or I'm not getting in positions that a No. 10 gets in.

“So it's all very different and there could be games where he might think I'm needed to play deeper to help the team out with different things. Therefore, I don't really have a preference to where I play necessarily in the midfield. Last season, I played deeper, I played as a six, I played as an eight, played as a 10, on the left and on the right. He's very tactical in the way he sees the game. So it's easy for me to transmit whatever he wants, and also my own game onto the pitch.

“It could be something as small as how a team presses: if a team's in a low block, if a team's in a mid block, or if a team presses with two midfielders or just with one midfielder - how can we find ways to get our players onto the ball? And like I say, it's very precise. And I enjoy it, it's good for me personally.”

The player Lille want to feed more than any is Canadian superstar David. Scorer of nearly a goal every game since his arrival in France, David is expected to be one of the most in-demand forwards in Europe this summer not called Kylian Mbappe.

Gomes explains that he, David and American Tim Weah (now at Juventus) formed a close friendship together and he and David talk every day, highlighting how theirs is a relationship where neither is afraid to challenge the other.

And for those who haven’t seen David play. What should they expect?

“I think for me, he's the most selfless striker that I've ever played with in terms of what he does for the team," says Gomes.

“First and foremost, I've never seen a striker run as much as him for the team, on the ball, off the ball, and that's very rare with strikers because they're the ones that score goals, they're the ones that get the headlines or the credit.

“If there's a game where he doesn't score a goal or he misses a chance sometimes you can hold your hands up, because the effort that he puts in is second to none for a striker.”

Gomes also praised winger Zhegrova – “probably one of the best dribblers I’ve ever seen!” – but he sees the highest ceiling for Yoro, the teenage centre-back who is already drawing comparisons with Raphael Varane, not just for the persistent links in the media with Real Madrid.

“Leny, from when he first came up, I knew directly that he was going to go to the top. When I was at Manchester United as a 16-year-old I understood what it was like to be around first team players but he has a different type of temperament.

“And his temperament isn't normal or the same as a 16-year-old or 17-year-old coming in. It's almost like he's a senior pro, the way he trained and the way he conducted himself and everything. It was easy to see how things could only progress for him.

“He played a lot last season and he’s almost started every game this season and been influential for us. He’s not even the type of player where I can say, 'if he keeps his feet on the ground etc.' because his feet are already on the ground and the type of kid he is, he can only go on to have a great future.”

Lille are a selling club. They know it, Fonseca knows it and so does Gomes. There’s chance that this time next year he, David and Yoro are all elsewhere. But right now they’re enjoying the moment, getting better every day and doing their best to win - and entertaining while doing it.

- -

TNT Sports presents the premium live sports rights previously carried by BT Sport including the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Conference League, Gallagher Premiership Rugby, Investec Champions Cup, EPCR Challenge Cup, MotoGP, Cricket, UFC, Boxing and WWE. The streaming home for TNT Sports in the UK is discovery+, where fans can enjoy a subscription that includes TNT Sports, Eurosport and entertainment in one destination. You can also watch TNT Sports through BT, EE, Sky, and Virgin Media