Not every player gets their break in English football courtesy of Lee Chapman and a nightclub. But for Tyrese Francois, a chance link between former Leeds United striker Chapman, Fulham and his uncle set him on the road to the professional game, and the first team at Craven Cottage.
Francois, 20, has made two first-team appearances for the west London club, the second of which came this season against Sheffield Wednesday in the Carabao Cup. The midfielder replaced Aboubakar Kamara for the last 20 minutes of the game, filling in on the right-hand side as Fulham saw out a 2-0 win.
Since then, however, this season has not quite gone to plan. The young Australian started the season training with Scott Parker’s first-team squad, but he picked up a serious hamstring injury that would rule him out for four months. He has been working his way back since, and has now started seven games in succession for the under-23s.
The latest of which came on Monday afternoon, when Leeds visited. Leeds are champions of the division, having stormed to success by riding a Marcelo Bielsa-inspired wave. Quite literally, in fact, and not just because two pleased supporters of the Yorkshire club showed up at full-time armed with a flag and two glasses of champagne. On the field, Leeds have ensured that their under-23s and their first team share the same COVID-19 bubble, making it easier for out-of-favour seniors to drop down for minutes with the reserves.
That is what happened when Fulham and Leeds met back in December, when Helder Costa, Pablo Hernandez and Tyler Roberts all started for the under-23s. It told, and Fulham ended up on the wrong end of a 7-1 drubbing.
It was a different story this week, though. Fulham dug in, and probably should have won the game considering the chances they had. Sylvester Jasper struck the post, Terry Ablade the bar, Jean-Pierre Tiehi saw a header cleared off the line and Idris Odutayo skewed wide. And that was only in the second half.
But in the end, they had to settle for a 1-1 draw, with Francois securing another 90 minutes.
“We knew we had to put in a shift and we did,” Francois told The Athletic. “They are similar to their first team, they work hard and go man-for-man. So we had to match that. We’re disappointed not to come away with three points.”
That has been a familiar theme this season for Colin Omogbehin and Mark Pembridge’s team. They are a young side compared to most, but they have not always secured the points they perhaps deserved. They sit 10th in Premier League 2 Division 2, with one game left.
“In terms of points and position in the table, it’s obviously disappointing,” adds Francois. “We’ve put in some really good performances, and just not been on the other side of results like today. It’s a new team now in transition. In terms of performance and players getting back fit from injury, that has been positive.”
Francois is one of those returnees, back playing regularly and pushing to return to the first team. He has been around the senior set-up for a while, joining the first team on a mid-season trip to Murcia, Spain, in the September of their Premier League campaign under Slavisa Jokanovic in 2018. His first-team debut followed against Southampton in the Carabao Cup in August 2019.
“It was tough,” he says of his injury. “It’s just about hitting the ground running really, because it’s a short turnover before the end of the season, and trying to get in as many games in as possible.
“The bubbles have been difficult, especially for young players, because it’s such a process to get back to the first team. There’s different regulations that we have to follow. The challenge is that there are two separate bubbles — and of course, when we were at Motspur (Park, the first team’s training base), you could just go over (to the first team) in a few seconds, whereas now it’s a whole process and procedure, which is difficult. We’re just glad to be playing again.”
Francois’s journey to Fulham is a unique one. The 20-year-old grew up in Campbelltown, near Sydney, Australia, and moved to London at 14. The family moved for work reasons, helped by the fact that mum, Marie-Anne, grew up in England and has a UK passport. Tyrese is one of three brothers, and they all came to the attention of Fulham thanks to their uncle, Joel. He owns a nightclub with former footballer Chapman, who also happened to know someone at Fulham. Tyrese and Marlee would later sign, with the latter joining Bristol City aged 16. He signed his first professional contract last month.
“He’s doing very well,” says Tyrese. “He’s enjoying himself, and so I am. It’s a different experience compared to what we would get in Australia. It’s just about grabbing that European dream.
“My mum grew up in England. So she’s always wanted us to almost live in two countries. It helped so we could get passports, which was a big challenge for a lot of Australian boys. But then at the same time, I think they just wanted to give us the best opportunity to make it in football. My dad (Jean) loves football. So he obviously wants to see us pursue our dreams and Europe is the best place for that. Especially for our style of play Marlee play. It’s once in a lifetime opportunity. I couldn’t imagine not doing it.”
There are many differences between soccer Down Under and the game experienced by Tyrese and Marlee in the UK. But other Australian sports never quite appealed.
“The biggest thing is the boys here and even people in general, they live and breathe football,” he says. “Whereas in Australia it’s soccer, it was not as big. So that was our biggest shock, the competitiveness and everything like that.
“It was always soccer for me. I dabbled a bit in rugby league in school but it was always soccer. I’ve always been so much smaller than everyone else. Aussie rules is even worse. It’s entertaining but for a small young player like me, it’s not much fun! I played a few rugby league games and I didn’t go back.”
Francois does not quite have the most transferable traits between the physicality of Aussie rules and rugby league compared to football. Here, he is a versatile midfielder, small in stature but quick and tidy in possession. He reads the game well and it is no surprise who he has modelled his game on.
“My biggest role model was Andres Iniesta,” he says. “Just because the way he played was undefendable. There are not many players like him. I’ve always tried to watch videos of him growing up, on YouTube and any DVDs I could get hold of.”
His brother, Marlee, is similar in frame but is seen as a winger, one who saw Ronaldinho and Cristiano Ronaldo as his own role models. “My brother and I were always practising in the garden,” he told Bristol City after signing his first professional contract in March. “We were always driving each other to get to the next level. It’s always been our dream to become professional footballers.”
Francois’s target is to work his way back into the first-team set-up while internationally, he may have one eye on the Olympics this summer in Tokyo. But for now, it is about getting back to full speed and looking ahead to 2021-22.
“They’ve got a very strong side,” he says of the seniors. “When I was with them, I was learning every day. It’s a good squad to be around in terms of their aura.
“(Scott Parker) was very good. He would share little gems during training, after training. He helped a lot, the assistant staff as well and a few of the players.
“Going forward I want to be with them. I want to play football as much as possible as well. It’s about finding that balance and working towards next season really now.”