NATHANIEL MENDEZ-LAING
DERBY COUNTY WINGER
THE idea of Nathaniel Mendez-Laing acting as a mentor for young players would until recently have seemed ludicrous.
He’s been rapped for driving without a licence. Sacked by Cardiff after a random drugs test found traces of cocaine. Criticised by Peterborough for being overweight.
Yet as he enters the latter stages of his career at Derby, the 31-year-old appears to have consigned those problems to the past.
“Nat’s a great character off the pitch,” said Rams defender Curtis Nelson in December. “He helps keep morale high and he’s a good craic but he cares a lot.
“He always asks how people are and gives it that personal touch. He looks after the young lads as well. He keeps an eye on Kane Wilson and they are in a car school together. It’s really good to see. He may not be the loudest on the pitch, but there are lots of good things he does off it.”
And on it, too. With Mendez-Laing’s new-found maturity has come arguably the most productive spell of his career.
Ahead of the weekend’s fixtures, nobody in League One had directly contributed to more goals than the Birmingham-born wideman, whose haul of nine goals and 17 assists in all competitions is already a career-best return.
Those figures are a continuation of the form Mendez-Laing showed after joining from Sheffield Wednesday last season, culminating in a first-ever call to the Guatemalan national side, for whom he qualifies through his late grandmother. He has since won eight caps.
“Every time he gets the ball, I think something is going to happen,” said admiring Rams boss Paul Warne. “He’s an unbelievable talent, Nat, the most exciting player we’ve got.”
That talent has always been evident. As a teenager whose skills were honed in the cages of Ladywood, Mendez-Laing was signed by Wolves amidst competition from a host of Premier League sides and had already clocked up seven appearances for England’s Under-17s when he made his pro debut in 2009. Still only 17, he was named man of the match for his performance in an EFL Cup win over Swindon.
Rescue
Subsequent years, however, were characterised by drift. Spells at Peterborough, Portsmouth, Shrewsbury and Cambridge brought flashes of quality but were also pockmarked by injury and indiscipline.
By the summer of 2015 he was jobless, and even considered a career elsewhere before Rochdale and Keith Hill rode to the rescue.
“Keith was a good mentor for me,” said Mendez-Laing. “In hard times, he would always speak to
