2023-09-26 05:05:14
With confident eyes and a calm voice, Samuel Umtiti exudes a form of maturity similar to that of a football player at the end of his career, in his thirties. The native of Yaoundé is only beginning, at 29, another phase of his career, far from FC Barcelona where he had his best years, notably winning two championships and three Copa del Rey, before being taken away from the field by chronic pain in the left knee.
In the wake of the 2018 World Cup which he won as one of the executives of the Blues, Umtiti has only played around fifty matches in four years…
“There are very difficult moments that I have experienced, but it is behind me, he breathes. I did a lot of work on that because I had a lot of resentment, things in me and in the end it didn’t allow me to move forward. That’s life, I understood that in a career, there are ups and downs, things that I can’t manage on my own.”
“To give advice”
This summer, he left Catalonia following seven years (2016-2023) ended with a convincing loan to Lecce (Italy) last season. After delayed physical preparation and a “small injury”, the central defender “feels better” and proclaims his “need to continue matches”.
Starting at Rennes the previous day, he should be there once more, this time at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy once morest Rémois, to help his club get closer to the top of the standings. Tenth (eight points), Losc is only three points from the podium, just ahead of Reims (seven).
His role seems to have been found within the northern club: bringing his experience alongside the young centrals Leny Yoro (17 years old), Bafodé Diakité (22) and Aleksandro (24) and making a feverish defense solid at the end of matches since the start of the season. Like in Rennes, where Paulo Fonseca’s players lost two points in the last twenty minutes of a hitherto controlled match (2-2).
“I am a person who really likes to give advice, to have discussions with the staff and the players to find out what each person thinks regarding a match, an occasion, an event of play, to be able to do better in the next meetings, says -he. Even when I was injured, I had the opportunity to speak with all the players, and even more now that I am able to play one match following another. I feel listened to.”
“Living in the moment”
Like others, the one who might become the captain of the Mastiffs is complimentary of Leny Yoro, recently called up to the France Espoirs team and already a scorer twice this season. “I’m lucky to have good players who really listen, like Leny (Yoro) who is young. I can talk to him from time to time, whether it’s regarding positioning, regarding how to play. understand an action. He does it quite well at his age.”
In addition to advice from the field, there are those from life: “It’s a message that I pass on to young people: you really have to live in the present moment, take everything there is to take in and realize that we have the chance to do an incredible job, and when we are in good health, take advantage of it.”
Umtiti suspects, his international career risks stopping at the 31 selections experienced between 2016 and 2019, mainly made of highs between the planetary title of 2018, therefore, and the final of Euro-2016 played at home.
“Compared to everything I have experienced, I know exactly where I want to go,” he says. “There are stages, I don’t want to skip them at all, I’m quite lucid there above. That’s why I came to Lille, to settle in a club (…) which suits me, in its mentality and in its game, so that people can see my qualities. I have had some very good years with this blue jersey, but currently, it’s really Lille.”
Among these steps is arguably the most important of all: becoming “Big Sam” once more.
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