His Watford career may be only eight appearances old, but the move to Vicarage Road that Ismael Kone made in the January transfer window is big news back in his native Canada.

The 20-year-old midfielder was playing amateur football two years ago, and since then has enjoyed a meteoric rise.

He joined CF Montreal in America’s MLS where he made just 32 appearances, broke into the Canada national team and ended up playing in all three of their group games at the World Cup in Qatar, and then joined Watford for €8m, making him the third most valuable player in Canadian football history.

Within a couple of weeks of arriving, Kone was the subject of a feature by Christine Roger, who works for Canada’s public broadcaster Radio-Canada/CBC - and it has been released online this week.

She and her photographer/cameraman Frederic Tremblay flew from Montreal to England, and were able to spend four days with Kone at the end of January.

They filmed him around Watford’s training ground, going on a trip to the barber shop with him and teammate Hasane Kamara, and then watching the game with Rotherham at Vicarage Road.

“In Montréal, Koné quickly became the crowd's favourite - 18 months ago, nobody knew him,” explained Christine.

“He signed his first contract in August 2021 but he was never in an academy or something before. He played his first pro game in February 2022 and scored his first goal that day.

“He almost had never played for Canada before going to the World Cup, he played in every game and gave a good impression. 

“The fact that he was transferred to Watford (and signed a huge contract) changes everything for him. He said that he can now take care of his mom, that she will stop working and follow his career."

Christine’s feature includes some behind-the-scenes photos at the training ground and in the Oliver Phillips Media Suite at Vicarage Road, as well as lots of shots of fans at the Rotherham game.

There are extensive quotes from Kone, as well as head coach Slaven Bilic and also Kone’s Mum, Suzanne Diomande.

You can read the full article and see all the photographs by clicking here – there are videos embedded in the interview but they appear to be unable to be viewed in the UK.