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Until a little more than a week ago, many of us hadn't really seen Kingsley Coman play against solid competition outside of a few grainy YouTube clips that had questionable music in the background. Unless you have a fancy for watching Ligue 1 academy matches or staying up at weird hours to see Juventus' preseason tour matches, then the sample size of Coman knowledge you probably had was relatively small.
Luckily for us, Gigi Buffon, resident greatest goalkeeper of all time, chimed in with this quote regarding Coman after Juventus' season-opening win on the last Saturday of August.
"It's not a surprise for us who see him every day. For me it was like seeing Pogba again. He has a level head on his shoulders that should take him far. The important thing now is that we don't ruin him."
(Source: WhoScored)
See? Gigi was not surprised. But was Andrea Pirlo impressed? Now that, ladies and gentlemen, may be the real question...
I digress.
Coman's debut was great — both in terms of how it helped Juventus get three points and for the simple fact that it was a young player essentially announcing he means business right in front of our eyes. But at the same time, it was one game. Even less than that, really, considering Coman played 64 minutes.
BWRAO Throwback
Did Coman show he's got skills to have some sort of impact this season? Absolutely.
Does his first official game in a Juventus jersey have to be the determining factor in how his career will go? Absolutely not.
Watching how Coman is used this season is easily one of the more intriguing topics this season. The 18-year-old recently said his goal is to play in 15-20 games this season. While that doesn't seem like a huge number to some, it's fairly realistic when you consider who he's playing alongside in the attack. Will his performances push Allegri to change to a formation that allows Coman to play alongside or behind Carlos Tévez and Fernando Llorente? Or will Coman be used by Allegri in the same kind of way Antonio Conte used Paul Pogba two years ago? If you want to follow the Pogba career arc, then that's not exactly a bad place to start.
Either way, it's been pretty interesting to see how the reaction and interest around the internet has changed about Coman since he became the youngest foreigner to make a Juventus debut last weekend against Chievo. He has gone from a relative unknown commodity amongst the general public to a player the vast majority of Juventini are talking about on a regular basis. It's no coincidence, either.
Even more interesting? How Allegri plans on using Coman in the next few months and going forward the rest of the season. There's no doubting Coman will get his chances as the season hits the meat of its schedule. (Another reminder that international breaks one weekend into the season really do suck.) If there's one thing Allegri proved at Milan is that he's not afraid to play youngsters who lack top-flight experience. Of course, Juventus doesn't have the same dearth of talent Milan had in Allegri's final season or two in charge of the fallen giants. It could be looked upon as a relatively easy task to integrate talented youngsters when the alternatives are totally average 30-somethings who have arrived for peanuts.
You know what is probably the most interesting thing of them all, though? Watching Juventus' latest French import ball like he did in his Juventus debut. And if he'd like, he can continue to do so. There's just something about making a good first impression. Kingsley Coman has definitely done just that.
KINGSLEY COMAN 2014-15 PROJECTION (SERIE A ONLY)
Games: 25
Starts: 14
Goals: 5
Assists: 4
Different cuts of mohawk: 3
