While Eric Cantona was the first Frenchman to really show the world there was some ability on the other side of the Channel, he wasn’t the first to give it a go in the ‘modern era’.
A few years earlier, a certain Didier Six played for Aston Villa for a brief season, and it all started so promisingly, too.
In a profile by L’Equipe, the player recalls his first ever game for Villa in 1984, against Ron Atkinson’s Manchester United, who they beat 3-0.
He said: “I was playing Mike Duxbury, England’s full-back. I needed to be clever to not get into contact with him as I wasn’t ready physically. I only had one goal, play simply and clean to gain confidence. Then I tried four or five dribbles.”
In the end, the player led the British media to question the United player’s international spot, such was his performance against him, picking up an assist in the process by setting up Peter Withe for the game’s first goal.
Then came the reality check that English football wasn’t all that technical back in the day, and balls were just passing him by as the long game took over.
A bad ankle injury stopped his season, and subsequently led him to lose his spot, replaced by Mark Walters.
Unconvincing, scoring only two goals in 15 appearances, the player left the following season to return to France for Metz.
Still, he isn’t ashamed to have given it a go, revealing his ‘pride’ to have been the first Frenchman to play in English football since Josef Praski for Notts Country in 1949.
