A looming figure sits sullenly on the bench on a cold, rainy day in the Midlands. His face exhibits disappointment.
On 78 minutes, the board is up, and so is his number. Enter the field Anthony Modeste, Blackburn Rover’s on-loan striker from Bordeaux itching to make his impact in the Premier League.
Steve Kean’s side are already 2-0 down and looking like a side doomed to relegation.
Modest picks the ball up mid-way into the opposition half. A soft challenge from The Baggie’s Billy Jones – a man a good half-a-foot shorter than the towering Frenchman – brings him to ground. The striker’s frustration boils over. He kicks out.
Only 7 minutes after entering the field, Modeste saw red.
Blackburn Rovers were relegated that season and that was to be Modeste’s last but one contribution in a blue and white shirt.
A lot changes in five years however. Smartphone usage across the world has gone up by approximately an astonishing 65%. The UK voted to leave the EU. Leicester City went from League 1 to Premier League Champions. Anthony Modeste has become one of Europe’s most sought after strikers.
The former Blackburn Rovers flop – who warmed the bench for much of his brief and discouraging tenure in England – has gone from strength to strength since leaving Ewood Park, with his form in the Bundesliga over the past four seasons establishing him as one of the continent’s best target men.
After parting ways with a related Rovers, Modeste spent another season on loan, this time in his home country with Ligue 1’s Bastia for whom he scored 17 goals that season. Immediately after that impressive loan spell, the striker would move to the Bundesliga with Hoffenheim for two solid years and later FC Koln in 2015, the place where his career would really take flight.
Signed by the club for a measly fee of just under £4 million, Modeste has since set the Bundesliga alight. During his first season with The Billy Goats, the now 29-year-old bagged an impressive 18 goals. This season – his second for the club – he hit the back of the net 27 times, an all time career high helping Koln to a 5th placed finish, their best in over 25 years.
Such has been Modeste’s impact at the club, he scored over half of the clubs goals during last season, demonstrating what an integral part of the Bundesliga outfit he has become in his thus far short career at the Rhein Energie Stadion, and with scoring statistics like that, people will take notice.
Amongst those interested in the 6″2 marksman are West Ham, who previously approached Koln last summer about a potential move for the player, however after such an impressive season, Slaven Bilic has his eye set again on the talented Frenchmann who is valued at around £26 million.
Should Modeste make the switch back to the Premier League, West Ham will certainly not be acquiring themselves the lacklustre, bumbling forward who will have been forgotten by many a Blackburn Rovers fan already; but instead a powerhouse, domineering and technically gifted centre forward with an eye for goal and a work ethic to match.
A Herculean figure in and around the opponents box, Modeste brags having won more aerial duels per game than any other forwards, and indeed most defenders, in the Bundesliga, coming out on top in the air an average of 4.4 times every 90 minutes.
The big man knows where the goal is too. An average of 3 shots per game stand him as the league’s fourth most prolific shooter, behind only Arjen Robben, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Robert Lewandowski. In the scoring charts, he fell short only to the latter two of that mouth-watering trio of stars.
There is something so refreshing and endearing about a player who works hard for his success and doesn’t give up at the first hurdle – or the second, or third in Anthony Modeste’s case.
After a failed spell in the Premier League, many would be likely to drop into the realms of anonymity. Yet the Frenchman said ‘non’. “Going to Blackburn made me stronger,” he told French newspaper Sud Ouest. “You have to find the positive aspect of every experience. Apart from anything else, it means I can speak English!”
An attitude like that shows exactly why Modeste has found his shooting boots and why any team in Europe would be lucky to have him lead their line.
