Former France international Patrick Blondeau may not have made much of an impact in the Premier League, but his daughter continues to take the fashion world by storm.
Thylane Blondeau stole the show at Paris Fashion Week, braving the elements to dazzle fans who had turned out to see the great and the good of the luxury clothing industry. Boasting 6.5million followers on Instagram and represented by industry giants IMG Models, the 21-year-old is fast becoming a household name.
Posing in a black outfit, Thylane made a strong impression before wrapping up in a large overcoat to shield her from the Parisian breeze. She has forged a hugely successful career in modelling, working for the likes of Dolce & Gabbana, L'Oreal and Versace.
Thylane also took centre stage at Milan Fashion Week in late February as her globe-trotting modelling endeavours eclipse her father's career on the football pitch. Patrick made just six appearances in the Premier League as a Sheffield Wednesday player in the 1997/98 season, registering one assist from his right-back berth.
He joined the Owls in a £1.8million transfer in 1997 after eight years on Monaco's books, having come through the ranks at Martigues while playing in the second tier of French football. Patrick, now 55, helped Monaco win the top-flight title in the 1996/97 campaign, but that proved to be the only silverware he would get his hands on during his career.
He earned two France caps in 1997 on the back of his fine season but failed to adapt to the Premier League and joined Marseille in 1998. Patrick gave life in England another go in 2001 but lasted just one season with Watford before returning to his homeland to play out his career with Creteil, a team based on the outskirts of Paris. He retired from playing in 2005.
Patrick was married to fashion designer Veronika Loubry from 2002 until their divorce in 2016 and the pair had two children, Thylane, born in 2001 and Ayrton, born in 2007. The former defender is by no means a famous player to have graced the English game but was at the centre of a media storm in 1997 when then-Wednesday manager David Pleat was on the brink of the sack.
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Patrick gave an interview to French newspaper L'Equipe admitting he regretted swapping Monaco for a club in a "dark, industrial city". He said: "I wondered if suddenly I'd become a bad player. Tactically, nothing made sense. If it continues, I'll lose all my football skills."
He added: "We work a lot less in training than in France, which is not very professional. Under [then-manager Jean] Tigana at Monaco, if we were told to arrive at 8am, we didn't come in at 8.05. Here you can arrive at 8.30 and no one says anything." Wednesday responded with a statement claiming their player had been misquoted, but the damage had been done and Patrick was shipped out after one season at Hillsborough.
