A promising teenage professional footballer tipped as a future international was 'executed by gangsters involved in a drugs war', French prosecutors believe.

William Gomis, 19 and until recently on the books of Ligue 1 giants St Etienne, 'died instantly' while sitting in a car on the notorious Berthe council estate, in the suburbs of Toulon.

An unnamed 14-year-old youth, originally from eastern Europe, was sitting next to him before both succumbed to machine gun fire in the early hours of Monday.

'It was almost certainly a settling of scores taking place in the context of a drugs war,' said an investigating source based in the Mediterranean coastal city.

'A gang of youths wearing black balaclavas and using a variety of weapons including AK-47s got out of another car and then opened fire.

'Mr Gomis was killed instantly, while the second victim was rushed to hospital by the emergency services where he died a few hours later.'

Some 24 spent gun cartridges were found in the vicinity of the crime scene following the shooting at around 12.25am in La Seyne-sur-Mer, a suburb of Toulon.

The Berthe, where Gomis was brought up in a family originally from Senegal, is one of its most notorious estates.

Rioting is commonplace, and civil servants and police have recently reported a huge increase in crime connected to the drugs trade.

Bernard Marchal, the Toulon Prosecutor, said other members of Gomis's family, including a younger brother, had been targeted in a similar fashion in recent weeks.

'Everything is being done to find those responsible,' said Mr Marchal, who said judicial police from Marseille were assisting with the enquiry.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-6150863/amp/Saint-Etienne-confirm-death-defender-William-Gomis-shot-dead-age-19.html

Goodnight

bad. just wen he's kicking off d best career in sport.

hmmm...so sad a news...

It's always scary walking around in some of those French ghettos. You'd feel like you were in AJ city.

Crime pays not..it only breeds pain and more losses

Take heed guys...