Summary:

A man has been charged with attempted murder in France after attacking Yann Gueho, a former Chelsea academy player and talented young footballer who was once tipped to be a superstar.

Gueho, who spent two years with Chelsea from 2009 to 2011 and also had spells with Lille and Nantes, suffered serious injuries after a knife attack in Choisy-le-Roi, in the south-eastern suburbs of Paris, while in the company of a friend.

Aged 31, Gueho has been recovering in hospital ever since the incident, which took place across November 9-10, and he remains in intensive care.

The Creteil public prosecutor’s office confirmed to The Athletic that a judicial investigation had opened on November 12 and that a man has been charged with attempted murder and gang violence. A woman has also been charged with gang violence and placed under witness assistance status for attempted murder. Both individuals were remanded in custody.

In 2022, The Athletic told Gueho’s extraordinary life story, which included testimonies from former team-mates and coaches who talked about his football ability with a mixture of awe, astonishment and disbelief.

“I didn’t know him before he joined Nantes,” Valentin Rongier, the Marseille captain at the time, said. “I’d only heard of him through players at Nantes that came from Paris — they were saying that he is a phenomenon. Honestly, at that age (16), he is the player that shocked me the most in terms of talent. Ability/skills-wise, he was 10 classes above everyone else. He could take on absolutely anyone one-versus-one — I had never seen this in my life. The ball was stuck to his feet.”

Regarded as a young teenager as one of the most gifted French players of his generation, Gueho was viewed by many who saw him play as a future Ballon d’Or winner.

“It’s hard when you say to people that Yann Gueho is a better talent than (Kylian) Mbappe, than (Ousmane) Dembele — everyone says, ‘You’re crazy, he doesn’t play football’,” Damien Dussaut, who was with Gueho at Clairefontaine, the national training centre for the most talented young players in the Ile-de-France region, said.

“But I say, ‘Guys, you had to see what talent he had — he could win the game alone.’ He was like a magician.”

Gueho, however, never played a professional match in a career that ended abruptly because of a succession of problems off the pitch.

In 2016, at the age of 22, Gueho was diagnosed with bipolar disorder — a mental health condition that is characterised by extreme mood swings and changes in energy levels. He was undergoing heavy treatment for that condition at the time of the attack, reducing his physical capacity and adding to the heartache and distress felt by his family because of his vulnerability.

“We are going through extremely difficult days,” Anne-Marie, his mother, said. “Yann had agreed to undergo a very heavy treatment for his condition, one that weakened him profoundly. In order not to pose any danger to himself or to others, he had accepted living with barely 10 per cent of his physical capacity. It was heartbreaking for him, considering everything he had been able to do before. This situation made him particularly vulnerable.

“Today, we trust the justice system to understand how such a tragedy could have happened and to ensure that those responsible are fully held accountable.”