TREVOR FRANCIS: MAN IN A MILLION

ROBERT WILSON TAKES A LOOK BACK AT THE LIFE OF THE FORMER NOTTINGHAM FOREST AND ENGLAND STAR

DURING a summer where Al-Hilal were offering to break the world record transfer fee to entice Kylian Mbappe to Saudi Arabia, it seems a lifetime ago that Trevor Francis caused a similar reaction when becoming the first £1m player in Britain.

Younger readers might find it hard to believe, but there was once upon a time in football when £1m was a hell of a lot of money.

Such was their admiration for the intelligent forward, Nottingham Forest boss Brian Clough and his trusted assistant Peter Taylor had attempted to sign Francis from Birmingham City on eight different occasions, but to no avail.

By breaking the £1m threshold, the pair would eventually land their man in February 1979. Clough would later try to make out that the fee was actually £1 short of the milestone million to ease the pressure on Francis - but with taxes and the potential add-ons involved, the transfer free comfortably surpassed the figure.

The £1m barrier had first been passed for the Italian Giuseppe Savoldi (£1.2m) following his move from Bologna to Napoli four years earlier.

In truth, Francis was well equipped to cope with the pressure of becoming the UK's first £1m player. He possessed the right mindset to handle being thrust into the limelight.

He had previously made his senior debut for Birmingham City at just 16 years and 139 days (a record beaten by Jude Bellingham) and was instantly branded as the country's new teen sensation.

He ended his first season for the Blues with an impressive 15 league goals from just 22 starts in the old Second Division. His impact would later help the club earn promotion to the First Division in 1972 and Francis made the step up in class with relative ease.