Having spent four seasons trying to stop the likes of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappé every day in training at Paris Saint-Germain, Sunday’s trip to Tottenham Hotspur holds no fear for West Ham United defender Thilo Kehrer.
Kehrer joined the French giants from German club Schalke 04 in August 2018, aged just 21, and walked into a dressing room containing Brazilian superstar Neymar and French forward Mbappé, as well as established international stars Gianluigi Buffon, Thiago Silva, Edinson Cavani, Dani Alves and Ángel Di María, among others.
He was joined in the summer of 2021 by Argentina living legend Messi, and together the star-studded Parisians won Ligue 1 at a canter for the third time in Kehrer’s four seasons in the French capital.
For the young defender, training every day was an education; a test; a challenge to be risen to and relished as he himself strived to become a top international player. Indeed, Kehrer’s Germany debut came just three weeks after he moved to the Parc des Princes and he has since become a regular for his country, earning 24 caps and appearing at the recent FIFA World Cup finals in Qatar – the same country from where PSG’s owners hail.
“Everyone has their own character and is their own person and, of course, football-wise these were some of the world’s best players, so the quality was immense and you saw it every day in training,” he recalled. “You were challenged every day by them and tried to make it as difficult as possible for them to score, to pass or to attack, so every day you had to be on the spot. If not, you would feel it straight away that you were not on the same level.
“They were different kinds of players, so they were all hard to defend.”
The hardest for Kehrer was the player he lined up alongside for PSG on more occasions than any other, 110, and the player who matched the achievement of West Ham and England legend Sir Geoff Hurst by scoring a hat-trick in the FIFA World Cup final, Mbappé.
“I’m quick, but I couldn’t keep up with Mbappé; I don’t think anybody can!” the West Ham No24 laughed. “But, by being smart, you can stop him, but it is very, very difficult. In a 90-minute game, though, you didn’t know how many moments you will have to try to stop him, and there are so many players who could make the difference, so it was very, very difficult!”
On Sunday, everything Kehrer learned facing Mbappé, Messi, Neymar and company at PSG’s Camp des Loges training ground will be put to good use trying to stop Tottenham’s own formidable front three of South Korea star Son Heung-min and Sweden international Dejan Kulusevski and, of course, England captain Harry Kane.
“I think Kane is right there with the top strikers in the world and he’s proven it for a lot of years now, and only looking at the numbers and the stats you can’t deny that he’s one of the top strikers,” he observed.
“He’s a very intelligent striker with a lot of qualities; he has great finishing and a great sense of spaces and of his movement that leads him away from players. He’s looking at finding places where the ball is going to be or the space is going to come.
“He’s a kind of striker that’s a bit like [Real Madrid and France striker Karim] Benzema because you need to be so awake and so focused because he’s always going to be trying to find the space in the right moment to get in front of you to get the finish, so it’s very difficult to defend.”
Kehrer and Kane have faced each other twice previously, both earlier this season, and neither has yet come out on top. First, in August, the striker failed to score but the defender netted an own-goal as West Ham and Spurs drew 1-1 at London Stadium. Then, in September, Kane did find the net late in England's 3-3 UEFA Nations League draw with Germany at Wembley.
So, which will be third-time lucky at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday afternoon?
