If you were to build a talent from scratch—a kind of superhuman football prodigy—you’d probably start with the genes. Give the kid a father who’s an ex-footballer and now a coach, and a mother who has played, say, professional handball. Place him in one of the hotspots for youth development, like the suburbs of Paris. Make him mature, disciplined and obsessed with self-improvement. Then let him play for a local club and watch him fly.