Marseille is very much your city. How have you handled your return?

Of course, there have been a lot of emotions over the past few months. Now they have come down a bit and I am more focused. The emotions were high. Obviously, it is a childhood dream to play for Marseille. Of course, I had played for them before, but playing in the stadium, in front of all the fans, was unbelievable. But now, I have had to put those emotions aside and really focus on my football in general in Marseille. I have been really focused, kept a smile on my face. I am more ready than ever. 

What does it mean to represent Senegal at your first AFCON?

Obviously, it means a lot to represent my country, Senegal. It is a dream that is coming true to play in the AFCON. I can’t wait to get started. There is a lot of pride in representing Olympique de Marseille in Africa because Marseille are really big in Africa. So to represent them for me is a very proud moment, and I can’t wait to get started. 

And Senegal will be one of the favourites…

We are going to come into it with the same intent and the same passion, I saw ‘we‘ as I’m part of the team now, even though I wasn’t in the same AFCON-winning team, but we’ll come in with the same intent and passion as the last AFCON. We, as a team, are a family, and when you’re a family, you help each other to perform to the best of your ability. I can’t wait to get there and get going. 

GFFN | Luke Entwistle

Is there pressure due to Senegal’s previous win, or the opposite as you know how to win it?

I wouldn’t say that there is pressure. Everyone in Senegal wants us to win the AFCON again. We are going to go into it calm, collected and focused to try to win it a second time. 

Do you expect winning AFCON to be a more difficult task this time around?

Yeah, I must confess that it isn’t easy, but the first time wasn’t easy either! There are lots of teams like Morocco and the Ivory Coast that will want to win it as well, Algeria, Tunisia, and Cameroon as well. Everyone wants to win this AFCON. It won’t be easy, but we’re going there to do something. 

OM are hugely popular in Senegal. Is there pride in representing your club at AFCON too?

It is a source of pride and joy to represent OM in Africa because there are lots of Olympique de Marseille supporters in Africa. We are going to bring Marseille everywhere we go. I am very proud. 

Do the results OM give you confidence too?

I am happy for the team and for everyone. We are on a good winning run. We’ll try and continue that for the supporters as well. We have been expecting (a turnaround) for some time as well and we will be looking to keep it up. On a personal level, I feel good. We are a family, a team. I feel really great here.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle

How did it feel to score in a World Cup final?

It’s funny that you’re asking that now as tonight (4th December) we are having our traditional meal for all of the France ’98 squad in Paris – since we won the World Cup and the Euros we meet up at least twice a year. So how did I feel scoring a goal in the World Cup final?

In my own country and with all my family in the stands? The only emotion that I can compare it to on the same level is the days that my daughters were born. When I became a father. I’ve rarely felt such strong, such intense feelings, such an unbelievable feeling of being alive, in day-to-day life, compared to the goal that I scored in the final. It’s an explosion of emotion in the head, you have the feeling that time stands still. At that moment I wasn’t thinking about it entering into posterity, about the impact that it would have. I know that it’s the World Cup final, I know the importance of it – but when I scored the goal it was like I blacked out. I don’t really have a visual or audio memory of it. But I remember that I thought immediately of my family, of my late brother – everything went so quickly through my head. But to answer your question, in terms of emotions the only time that I’ve felt such strong emotions in everyday life is when my daughters were born – I have three daughters and for each birth, I had the feeling of having done something of worth, something good.

We didn’t change people’s lives – we’re not politicians, we’re not scientists. We brought happiness and pride but as footballers, in terms of impact, it stops there. It’s limited. We can’t change people’s lives in social or economic terms, we can’t cure illnesses. Politicians and scientists have a real impact on people’s lives, we’re there to give them a bit of distraction, a bit of comfort.

Although at the time, with “Blanc-Black-Beur” there was a feeling that you were doing something to affect politics and the view of some minorities.

But it didn’t work though. When you look at the situation in France and around the world… I’m all for emphasising the importance of football in different aspects but as far as I’m concerned – it’s just my opinion – football and the impact of the players stops at a certain point.

1998 was the apotheosis for you with the World Cup following on from the Double with Arsenal. It feels like Arsenal are now poised to hit those heights again. What are your thoughts on the current team and do you think that any of the current team could have had a place in your team?

I am full of admiration for, and very happy with, the work of Arteta and of Arsenal’s Board – of their work on the pitch but also off it. I am very happy with the team’s style of play, which has reconnected to the club’s identity – lots of movement, passes between the lines, overlaps, looking to destabilise the opposition with the speed of movement and of thought. So I’m very, very happy with the style of play of Arsenal, even if I think there is still a lot of room for improvement, collectively and individually. And I’m very happy with Arteta. But I’m not going to compare them with our team – in 1998 it was a different kind of football – even though we played it very well! It was a different style of management too.

But I’ll compare them with us on the day that they start winning trophies like us. One can make all types of comparisons but at the end of the day what differentiates teams is their ability to win titles at the highest level. Arsenal are going in the right direction – I remember when Arteta first arrived it was very complicated for him, both on the pitch and in his management with certain players. He began to take very important decisions, particularly with Aubameyang but with others too. But what really pleased me was the vision that he had on the pitch, how he wanted to see his team play.

Many people say it’s a copy-paste of Guardiola’s Manchester City – well listen, guys, why are you complaining? If you do the same things as Pep Guardiola maybe you’ll get the same results! It’s not easy to say you’re going to copy Guardiola! You know a few years ago, at my time and after that at the time of the Invincibles, Arsenal were often seen as the mini-Barca. If today Arsenal are seen as the mini-City, that suits me perfectly and right now Arsenal are probably the toughest opponent that City has to face in the Premier League – and God knows if there are lots of big teams in the Premier League! I’m also very, very happy with the work between the staff and also the Board, with Edu among others, on the vision, the transfer market, the profile of players they’re going for in relation to what Arteta wants to do tactically on the pitch and how he wants his players to play.

For several years Arsenal made mistakes in the transfer market, spending crazy money on players who didn’t correspond at all to the DNA of the club or to what the coach wanted to do. Now I have the impression – actually not an impression but the conviction – that for two or three years now the club has been gradually rising again to become a major force in the Premier League and will become a major force on the European scene again too. So congratulations to everyone – to the players, to Arteta and to the Board – especially to the Board for giving Arteta the time to put his ideas and his convictions in place, because in certain clubs I don’t think Arteta would have lasted more than 18 months.

You mentioned the Invincibles, which brings me to a question likely on the lips of many Gunners’ fans – do you regret leaving Arsenal when you did?

Regrets? Yes, of course. But there you go, I spent three exceptional years with Arsenal, we won titles, it was the beginning of the Wenger era, the beginning of a new Arsenal – I remember when I joined the club, people often said of Arsenal that it was “kick and rush”, “long balls and win the second balls” – the ball spent more time in the air than on the pitch – “one-nil to the Arsenal”. And with Arsene Wenger and the arrival of lots of foreign players, we started putting our foot on the ball, playing with the ball on the ground. And we started to play brilliant football and that’s when we started winning trophies. So I am very proud, with Arsene and with my teammates, to have been there at the start of that new Arsenal. We placed the first building blocks – in fact, Arsene Wenger said it very well in a recent Canal+ feature on Arsenal – that it’s our generation that built the foundations for what Arsenal subsequently became.

I’d suggest not just Arsenal but the whole of the Premier League, in terms of changing players’ diets, lifestyles…

Exactly. So we’re very proud of all that, and I’m very proud of the Gunners today. And of all that is good about Arsenal and the club today, there is one thing in particular that I really like, that I admire a lot because it really speaks to me. It’s the friendship that exists between the players. There’s a real friendship that you can feel, that you can see on the pitch, you can see in their behaviour. The other day when Ramsdale played, at the end of the match all the players ran over to see him, to put their arms around him, to console him, because it must be very hard for him to be in his situation. The same thing with Kai Havertz when he scored his goal last weekend. You see it when a player has had a bad game – they’re immediately comforted by teammates.

There’s no guy there with a bad mentality, it’s a squad that gets on very, very well on a human level, and you can feel it – that not only do they take pleasure in playing together but also in experiencing these moments together, which for me is very important. There are egos but there isn’t too much ego. It’s always the team that takes precedence, that is the priority – it is not the individual that takes over. And for me you have Mikel Arteta to thank, for his management – which was tough, but he put in place rules in the changing room and on the pitch.

And the players are intelligent enough and have enough quality to have made Arsenal a major force in the Premier League again. And again, in modern football where everything happens so quickly and after five bad results, we change coaches – not just in England but in other leagues too – in France we’re seeing the same thing with Lyon, where you get the impression they’re going to change coaches every two months. Fine – but in modern football, which is crazy, which goes at 100,000kmph, it’s not surprising to see clubs succeed when they have a real strategy in place.

But really, it’s a pleasure, a source of pride, to watch these Gunners play, in their behaviour, in their style of play, but also in their attitude – I have a lot of affection for people in this team – I think that I would have got on well with a lot of the players, on the pitch and off it.

Emmanuel Petit was speaking on behalf of King Casino Bonus.

GFFN | Jeremy Smith

Get French Football News recently caught up with the 34-year-old again to discuss the work he has carried out as an ambassador for the UN’s World Food Programme, the short-term prospects for the DRC national team ahead of next year’s AFCON, and the advice he would give to current players on finding their way after retirement:

When we last spoke more than three years ago, you were playing at El Paso in the USA – a lot has happened since then. Could you first talk us through what led you to setting up your foundation, Banazola?

It’s a charity that I founded with my wife, which looks to help the children of Congo. It’s really the product of our own personal backgrounds – my wife’s father was a humanitarian worker and she lost her parents at quite a young age, so that’s something which motivated her. And then there’s my own story, from my time in the Monaco academy to seeing the youth of Congo. There are a lot of elements which made us think that we should help out, and create Banazola.

The objective is to set up social assistance for children in Congo, and we use sport as a tool for that. We realised that the fact that I’m a former DRC national team player gave us a certain credibility in terms of raising awareness and having more of an impact and having a presence in the media.

We’ve been working on it for two years now, and it’s going well. What started it all was when we renovated a school in Kinshasa – I was still playing in the USA at the time, it was my wife who went out to Congo and we coordinated everything with the teams who were on site. Everything developed from that.

We also help out orphanages, we work with a paediatric unit in Kinshasa, and most of all we carry out awareness campaigns – via football – on different topics. We do these with our partners, for example with the World Food Programme. Step by step, we’re developing it and also learning ourselves.

Is food insecurity a particularly important topic for the foundation?

We’ve been working with the WFP for a year now, and seven months ago I was named an ambassador for it. So it’s often a topic when we carry out initiatives with them, but at its heart Banazola is really about issues surrounding children in general. Since the WFP looks to help children in terms of food insecurity, we have the same vision in that sense.

What kind of specific initiatives do you carry out in that role?

I work on an initiative which focuses on providing school meals. So the objective is to build as many canteens as possible in schools across the DRC, and to raise awareness among children of the importance of a healthy diet. 

What are the long-term goals of the foundation, how do you see it developing?

The aim would be to go on and build emergency shelter homes and infrastructure for vulnerable children.

Whether it’s through Banazola or the WFP, I often use the network of contacts I’ve built up through football. Monaco have been with us since we started Banazola – when I came back from the USA, I showed them what I was working on, and they supported us. Last year, they provided help when we organised a tournament in partnership with the WFP centred around sport and nutrition. Recently we had the idea of playing a match in a refugee camp in Goma [in war-torn eastern Congo], and they also supported us. We set off two months ago, and we managed to set it all up, even though it wasn’t easy. 

I think it’s a good thing for our own exposure and for them as well. It also allows us to send out a message to other retired athletes, who might be thinking of doing something themselves, that you should look to help out however you can, with your means. That’s another aim – to position ourselves as a model for former teammates to go out and get involved.

So you’d also like to encourage other ex-pros to carry out these kinds of initiatives?

If they want to, of course. But for those who are interested, they should go for it. During your playing career, you develop a lot of skills, but it’s difficult to transfer them elsewhere after you retire, in the real world. So I’d really like to encourage my former teammates to get out there and get started.

Did your time playing in America shape your decision in any way?

I would even say it was fundamental. Over there, you really have this community spirit, this anglophone self-starter mindset. When I was over there, after training my teammates would never be lying around, nobody would be going for a nap! Some would be taking online courses, another one was writing a book, someone else was setting up his clothing brand, doing coaching… 

So I got myself into that mindset. Seeing as my wife and I had been discussing this project in the five or six years before that, the planets aligned and we decided to go for it. I’d say my time in the USA was decisive. 

So it was a formative time for you, on and off the pitch

My first year at El Paso went well, I had a lot of playing time. But towards the end of the season, I had to leave the club, and I had a few offers. When Charlotte came up, we made the decision to go there straight away. Over there, I didn’t get the playing time that I’d have wanted, but off the pitch is where things really developed. The club even supported me when I launched my foundation. It’s kind of contradictory, because I wasn’t playing a lot, but they supported me and were behind me, and I think that’s amazing. 

In France, when you’re not playing, you’re often cast aside, in a way. You kind of become the person to avoid. In America, they know how to dissociate performances and personal life. So that was very important for me.

You can go knock on the CEO’s door, and he’ll listen to you, regardless of whether you’re playing or not. In France, that could be difficult. It’s really a case of different mentalities.

I’m not saying this to put France down, but just to show the difference in mentalities from one continent to the other. Over there, there’s really this spirit of wanting to give back to the community. You can see it in the initiatives the players carry out, whether it’s hospital visits or helping out the less fortunate. You have celebrations within the club for festivities like Thanksgiving.

Is that the kind of mentality you want to transmit to your colleagues, then?

Of course. It can be hard to bounce back after the end of your playing career. If you’re already getting involved during your career, making yourself busy and putting some ideas together, it won’t be as difficult after you retire. In France, we’re told to think about what we’ll be doing after our playing careers, but we’re not necessarily being given all the tools to do that.

It would be good to explore other interests – reading, going to museums, creating something. In France, you train, you nap, you train, you nap – and in the end, you’re not actually doing anything. In the USA, you can do what you want, as long as you perform on matchdays.

There’s a lot of potential. Obviously, if you’re playing every three days, it can be difficult to think about other stuff. But I think that it’s important for a professional footballer to develop themselves during their career, to explore other interests. That’s the advice I would give to young players.

I was able to get started while I was still playing, and it’s something which helped me a lot. It opened a lot of doors for me. You also don’t necessarily need to have had the best of careers to make an impact. Some might think that they weren’t necessarily high-profile in their playing days, so they’ll keep to themselves at the end of their careers. They think that they wouldn’t be effective because of that, but in reality that’s not necessarily true.

To finish on some football – what do you make of The Leopards’ chances at January’s AFCON?

It’s funny how there’s so much going on after my retirement that we’re only getting to football now! I’d say it’s still a part of my life, but I try to “serve” football off the pitch now.

A lot of people tell me that I’m young, that I could still be playing – of course I could, but it’s not what I want. Even before doing all of this, I didn’t see myself pushing on and playing lower down the divisions. These days, I’m happy because I can spend time with my wife and my three children. Being an elite athlete requires a lot, and sometimes that can make you selfish in terms of focusing on giving it your all on the pitch. Now, even if I’m doing well in other areas, I still have time for my family, and that’s important for me. I do still like football, though!

I think DRC have a good chance. Since the new coach [Sébastien Desabre] arrived, and the normalisation committee [appointed by FIFA to run the scandal-riddled FA] results have been positive.

The team has a real backbone, with players like Chancel Mbemba, Arthur Masuaku, Samuel Moutoussamy, Yoane Wissa, and Cédric Bakambu. We know that a lot of things need to be put in place to have a shot at being champions, but I think we have every chance of going all the way. We’ll need to take it step by step and get past the first round – after that, it becomes a whole different tournament, and anything can happen.

Thauvin’s toxic relationship with OM

Thauvin left the club, as a free agent, back in 2022 at the term of his eighth season for Les Phocéens. Following his final match for the club, against Angers, the right-winger had declared: “Frank McCourt and Pablo Longoria offered me a great deal, and I thank them for that. But I think my time here is over. OM is a beautiful club, the most beautiful club in France. But also a tiring club.”, as reported by Ligue 1.

He had then joined his ex-teammate for both club and country, André-Pierre Gignac (37), at Mexican club Tigres UANL, where he played 37 games, scoring eight goals and getting five assists. Last winter, he returned to Europe, joining Serie A side Udinese Calcio where he is playing today.

Thauvin had notably been a part of the 2018 France squad, which went all the way to win the World Cup in Russia.

GFFN | Alfred Lalande

He returned to the squad against Le Havre AC at the weekend and is therefore expected to be fit to face Paris Saint-Germain after the international break. With many of his teammates away on international duty, Vanderson was present to sign autographs and greet young fans at Monaco’s ‘Kids Tour’ and speak to Get French Football News.

You’ve been absent since the victory over Marseille in late September. Are you ready to return, and is there a disappointment at having missed out on the Brazil squad through injury?

I missed five matches, but I’m feeling good now. I am ready to return for Monaco now. I am disappointed to have missed out on a call-up for Brazil. I need to be focused on what is going on here. We’ll see (about a future call-up) but there is disappointment.

How have the first weeks been with Adi Hütter?

There has been a change in mentality. Everyone feels good. We’ve really adapted to his principles of play and we’ve had a good start to the season. 

Monaco have had a lot of success against PSG in recent times. How do you explain that and could this be a key match for the title?

It’s a big match. I don’t know (why we’ve had such success against PSG recently). We work a lot to prepare for all of the matches. As we have done in recent years, we’re going to try and play a good match and take the three points. We’re going to try and finish as high as possible this season, finish in the Europa League or Champions League. A key match for the title? Maybe, but everyone wants to win the title. Last season, we didn’t finish high enough, we’ll try and finish as high as possible this season, that’s the objective. 

How is your relationship with your compatriot, Thiago Scuro, who became sporting director at the Principality club this summer?

I have a good relationship with him. We speak the same language, which is good for helping me, but also for him too. He is a good sporting director, well-known in Brazil and we have a good personal relationship. 

GFFN | Luke Entwistle

Your former club Chelsea are struggling a little despite spending a billion pounds. How do you see the club right now?

It’s strange because you can’t criticise people who have succeeded professionally and who have decided to invest – they have consulted the board, they have had dozens of meetings for each player whom they bring in, to adapt them to the philosophy, to the future needs of the club in relation to the player’s potential. So it’s very hard to criticize. The only thing that I’d say though is that it is an error of communication. They are carried away by the potential that each player that they’ve bought has, because they’ve forgotten about one element, knowing that to play football at the highest level, to attain what we call in French “la culture de la gagne” – the winning mentality – you need experience – nascent talent is never enough to presume immediate performance. And that’s the only thing where I’d say they’ve made a mistake, where they keep thinking, with the coach Pochettino, “No, this year we’ll be title challengers with the team that we have”.

Right from the start of the season, you could see that they can’t be title challengers – it was obvious. But they have put together players of great potential and have positioned themselves in terms of “business” – because if they didn’t buy the players now for a little above value, they wouldn’t have been able to buy them later. So the only thing is they need to know how to educate the supporters by telling them “Hang on – we’re going to have a year or two of transition but after that – wow – we’ve built up enormous potential”.

But the fans and the media don’t want to hear that – they’ve seen the investment, they want immediate results. But that’s what I think of Chelsea’s idea – Pochettino isn’t a coach who has built up his philosophy like a Mourinho, a Tuchel – he’s a coach who needs to coach top players, top teams. And now he needs to rethink all his coaching to adapt to players who are in theory at a very high level but for whom you need to recreate the basic foundations of play.

GFFN | Jeremy Smith, Luke Entwistle

Magassa has been a name on the lips of the Monaco fans for a while. The Diagonale Academy product has impressed coming through the ranks at the Principality club. His chance came last season against Stade Rennais. Down to 10 men early in the first half of the match in August 2022, Magassa steadied the ship and was essential to Monaco securing a hard-fought draw. Ultimately, however, this wouldn’t prove to be the springboard for a more prominent role. 

“After that match against Rennes, I thought that having had a good match, I anticipated that I’d get my chance. That didn’t happen. My next match was six months later against Rodez in the Coupe de France. It took time, I worked hard and I played with the Groupe Élite but I was disappointed during these six months where I wasn’t playing in the first team,” said Magassa.

A dawning realisation

Magassa would have to be patient. He was used sparingly, if at all, by Philippe Clement, but he quickly earned the trust of new manager Adi Hütter. However, as the club’s pre-season preparations progressed, there was a slow realisation that Magassa would feature in an unfamiliar role. 

Largely as a result of absences and sales, Magassa, a No.6 by trade, came on against Leeds United in an LCB role for the final 20 minutes. That cameo was followed by full 90-minute matches in defence against Genoa and then Arsenal. What was unclear, however, was whether Magassa would feature quite so frequently when the season got underway. The response was a pleasant surprise. 

“Honestly, I thought I’d get game time but not as much as I have had in these three months. I’m lucky to have the opportunity to express myself every weekend and to show the coach what I’m capable of,” said the Monaco academy product, who was equally surprised by the contours of his deployment. ” I wasn’t expecting to play in this position. I was used to filling in at centre back for 10/15 minutes but never a full 90.” It is a role that he is more than happy to play, and in his own words, it is a position in which he is “flourishing.” 

Nevertheless, Magassa still perceives himself as a holding midfielder. “I like this position (No.6) because you run more, you see more of the ball, but I try to bring as much as possible as a defender. I have a lot of fun in midfield and I like the position a lot,” said the Frenchman, who cites his distribution, aggressivity, directness, physicality and risk-taking as his primary strengths. 

Elite inspirations

Whether Magassa’s future lies in midfield or in defence, he can draw on some elite inspirations. He has trained with players such as Aurélien Tchouaméni, Axel Disasi and Benoît Badiashile. There are undeniable similarities between Magassa and Badiashile, both of whom like to be aggressive and push into the midfield out of possession. “Similarities? I’m not necessarily sure, but they are great players and I was inspired by them. When they were here, I tried to learn from them on a daily basis, to see how they worked, how they were in matches and I solicited advice from them,” said Magassa. 

He added, “Benoît did great things at the club and he was also of course a player that played on the left of the defence. Even if I play on the left, I’m a right-footer who can also play the ball out well, which I try to take inspiration from because it was really his strength. If I can be inspired by Benoît, as a defender, I’ll be happy.”

Photo source:  AS Monaco

Badiashile, like Magassa, came through the club’s prestigious academy. The Chelsea defender is naturally an inspiration to Magassa and a relatable one. It hasn’t all been plain sailing for Magassa since arriving at the Principality club. “At the start, it wasn’t easy. I was without my parents and my brother for the first time and I didn’t play a lot in the first year, but I learnt to quickly adapt.”

Magassa’s breakthrough came after the Covid break, and Monaco quickly tied him to a professional contract. The next season, he spent his time with the reserve side in the National 2. That team no longer exists and has been replaced by the Groupe Élite, which competes in the Premier League International Cup. Magassa at least partially attributes his progression to the club’s decision to create the group. “We played prestigious matches, such as the one against Manchester United at Old Trafford, like against Arsenal, West Ham United, and Bayern Munich as well. They were really high-quality matches. When you play these kinds of matches, it is easier to adapt to the professional world. It was a good idea to create the Groupe Élite at Monaco,” 
said Magassa.

The Hütter effect

Those experiences have allowed Magassa to take the next step under Hütter, under whom he has already played eight official matches. “He is a coach who has a lot of confidence in me, and I really feel that. On the pitch, he speaks with me a lot and it’s the same in training as well. Lots of that is on the mental aspects and he gives me a lot of advice on this, on how to keep focused until the end, and how to play with confidence. He is pushing me forward. I hope to repay his faith in every in which he gives me the confidence to play,” said Magassa.

Monaco are top of Ligue 1 after Round Nine, and Magassa has praised the Austrian’s ability to get the best out of a team that last season dropped off dramatically, missing out on all forms of European football for the current campaign. “He has a philosophy of football that corresponds really well with the players that are here. We have great players here and he has managed to put things in place. We have managed to adapt well because we are a team that likes to be attacking. We have great attacking players, we have great quality in our press, in our ability to win the ball back. We’ve managed to adapt to him and he has adapted to us as well,” said the Île-de-France-born player.

The reunion

However, Magassa, just like the rest of the Monaco squad, is refusing to be drawn into title talk. “It is still early. We’re only a quarter of the way through the season and the road is still long. We need to keep working hard, keep being rigorous, remain consistent and focused and fight for each other in every minute of every match and in every duel. Why not, if we keep doing that, reach our objective, which is to achieve European competition? But we’re not limiting ourselves,” said Magassa.

Whilst Monaco continue to flourish collectively, there an individual success stories. Magassa is one of them, as is Maghnes Akliouche and Chrislain Matsima. All three are now playing for the France U21 side, which gave Magassa the chance to be reunited with former Monaco manager Thierry Henry. “I already met and spoke with him on many occasions whilst I was in the academy because he was very close with the young players when he coached here at Monaco. I remember I first met him when I was playing for the U17 side. To meet with him again with Les Bleuets is something that I am really proud of. He was a great player and now a great coach too. He gave me good advice that I took on board and that I am trying to work into my game day by day,” said Magassa. 

Magassa is part of what is being described as a “golden generation,” with players such as Warren Zaïre-Emery, Mathys Tel and Rayan Cherki catching the eye. However, a step up to the senior side isn’t on Magassa’s mind. “There are lots of steps to take and there is a lot of room to progress to get to that level. I need to challenge myself on a daily basis, to learn from my errors, to seek advice, to really analyse my game. I’m trying to work day by day and not to look too far into the future. I need to focus on the steps that I have to take today,” he said.

‘I don’t really limit myself’ – Magassa

Whilst Magassa isn’t thinking about a call-up to Didier Deschamps’ side, that is not to say that he is lacking in ambition. Quite the opposite. The Frenchman is brimming with self-confidence and has the mentality to match. “I don’t really limit myself and I don’t set myself any specific objectives […] I think if I continue to work, if I stay disciplined, applied and I listen to advice and remain humble, there is no reason why I can’t reach the highest level. I think everything comes with work. You also need to avoid injuries and have good people around you, which I do. If you have all that, there is no reason not to be a great player and play in the biggest matches,” Magassa told Get French Football News.

Many of Monaco’s best ultimately make the move away, but for Magassa there is not yet any question of a departure. “I am already playing at a very big club in the form of Monaco, in a good league as well,” said Magassa. The Frenchman is fully focused on his daily development and becoming the “great player” that he believes he can become.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle

Photo credit: Luke Entwistle

Having accomplished everything in Germany, he wanted a new challenge, to ensure that his career did not stagnate. Top scorer and domestic champion with Barcelona in his first season in Spain, the striker has settled very well in Spain. “This place has perfectly met our expectations. We use the bike a lot, we do a lot of walks and runs, as well as water sports. I train a lot at the beach,” he explains, after stating he was worried his family would struggle to adapt to the new culture. His wife has fully embraced dancing and the local music, while he’s become fluent in Spanish. “It’s a new energy. All at once, you don’t know anything anymore. You need time to adapt to the way of working and travelling here. I arrived with a lot of questions and got the answers”, he explains.

He fully assumes his new role as a leader amongst a very young squad. “With the young players, we understood each other very quickly. They didn’t speak English, so I understood very quickly that I had to improve my Spanish. Even with this, we found each other very well on the pitch, via another language, the language of football,” explains the striker. He underlines his good connection with midfielder Pedri, a player he likes because he “understands football. He sees things, it’s easy (..) we found a good feeling even with different sensibilities”.

These connections will develop over time however, talking of his first season in Munich, where he didn’t instantly make connections with Thomas Müller and the other players. “It takes time to understand each other’s movements (…) we have a huge potential at Barcelona (…) even if the first season was very good, I know we can do better, in the Champions League particularly. We need to get to the next level and I know I can be a mentor”, he says.

In order to continue his career for a long time, Lewandowski has regularly shown he has one of the best work ethics in the game. He says he was conscious of taking care of his body when he suffered his first injury at 17 years old, beginning to work hard on that side of things from the age 19 and really asking the right questions once he was 21. He started thinking about what he could do to improve his work ethic at home, helped by his wife Anna and what his dad had taught him before he started his professional career. “He was my sports’ coach and was really annoying with gymnastics for example. I wanted to only play football, but he wanted me to do gymnastics, volleyball, basketball, tennis, hockey or being on the athletics track. I didn’t understand at the time, but I do now”, he concedes.

He is constantly evolving his preparation, using his own research, science and doctors. “But nothing beats my own sense. I adapt my programs, particularly what I eat. The world is changing and I try to understand it”, he says. “I hate zones of comfort. That’s true for my personal and footballing lives. Humans have the tendency to think that evolution is a risk. But it is not just because you change things that you are less strong. On the contrary, I am always researching how to improve”, explains the Barcelona striker.

With such a work ethic, it is sometimes hard for him to see players around him not fully exploit their potential. He took time to understand that he cannot expect the same from others than what he expects from himself. When asked whether it would have been easier to play an individual sport, he says that you are reliant on your own. “I was lucky to play at Bayern and Barcelona. The biggest challenge was with Poland and to change my expectations. For a long time, I wanted the impossible (…) it is not easy being fully conscious of the context that surrounds you”, explains the Polish captain.

He is constantly seeking to see how he can improve, which to him, feels like the best way to stay at the top of his game. “It is divisive, people look at your differently but talent alone doesn’t exist anymore, so you need to be on constant alert,” he says. “It is not one day, a month or a period. No. You need to want it every say and act like it: open your eyes, your mind and your horizon”, adds Lewandowski.

The striker talks about the psychological aspect of football and how appearances can be faulted, particularly with social media. “Two Instagram pictures won’t tell the full picture and when times are hard, you need to be able to build your bubble yourself and your family”, he says. While the world around him interests him, he says that as the captain of the Polish national team, he needs to protect the players to keep a good atmosphere, even with what is happening around the team.

Coming from Poland, like Iga Swiatek, the women’s tennis world number one, can be experienced like an inferiority complex. “I didn’t like the lack of respect, the disdain. When I started, people didn’t believe in me because I was from Poland. It had been a long time since a Polish player had reached this level (…) they tried limiting my possibilities”, he says. While Swiatek and himself have changed the public image of Poland in that aspect, he hopes that many more sportspersons will reach these levels from his home nation.

To conclude, he talks about the years to come. “This could last a long time. I do not know about after this. I have many projects, but telling you which one will get me to wake up in the morning… Coach? I don’t think so. Maybe I’ll miss the dressing room so much that I will change my mind. I know that there is an end at least (..) The after, even though it will be different, doesn’t have to be worse than my first career. I am not too worried. Today, when I am not playing, I am bored. It is a good sign. I still love scoring goals and I have not explored everything in football yet”, finishes Lewandowski.

GFFN | Tom Abadie

But one player who has gone under the radar, though, is summer recruit Salis Abdul Samed. The former Clermont man has more than managed to fill the Cheick Doucouré-shaped hole left in Franck Haise’s squad, and embodies the selfless nature of the team’s all-action approach. Abdul Samed, who, like Doucouré, is a JMG Academy graduate, has struck a midfield partnership with Séko Fofana that has served as the base for the team’s success.

Named in Get French Football News’ Ligue 1 Team of the Year, the Ghana international speaks to us about how his game has developed over the past year, and the team’s ambitions as the continental stage beckons.

RJ: Your return to action from suspension came against Reims, where you came back from behind to win despite going down to ten men. Do you think it’s a performance which encapsulates the team’s drive to get second place?

SAS: It shows that first of all, we’ve put the work in, after the team won the three matches while I was away. I wasn’t doing well after the red card, I went to see a psychologist. But in the end I was happy that the team won their games, so it didn’t trouble me too much. As for Friday, I was happy to be back at Bollaert, in front of our fans. I really wanted to play, it had been difficult watching on from the stands! 

Even after we had the red card [defender Kevin Danso was sent off after 20 minutes] we stayed solid, as we’ve been since the start of the season, and we didn’t let go. Thanks to that, we won.

You only joined last summer, but it feels like you’ve slotted into the team seamlessly. How did your arrival play out?

When I arrived, the coach and my teammates put their faith in me straight away. They helped me improve in training – I applied what I was doing at Clermont and listened to the coach in order to progress here as well. This team is like a family, so it was easy for me to adapt.

Was it Franck Haise specifically who convinced you to come to Lens?

Yes, he was the one who called my agents. He was really interested and wanted me to come, so then my agents spoke to the club. I wanted to come as well, because I felt it was the club that could allow me to improve and move forward, and I liked their style of play. I picked Lens, but there were other clubs interested as well.

Could you talk us through your partnership with Séko Fofana, how do you guys understand each other so well on the pitch?

He’s a great guy. When I arrived, he was giving me advice on the pitch – play freely, do what you know you’re capable of, go forward more often. We had some good chats, and since I’d watched Lens before I knew in which ways they would often push forward to try and score. So I said that I was happy to go up the pitch, as much as I was happy to stay back and play more defensively.

How have you experienced this rapid rise from Ligue 2 football to the Champions League next season?

I didn’t play that much in Ligue 2 – just seven or eight games – but I do the same thing now as I did back then, which is to work hard. But my first match in Ligue 1 was a bit stressful, because it was the first time I was starting a game as a professional. But I was told that hard work pays off, and because I played well I stayed in the team and kept playing for the rest of the season.

Could you talk about how Franck Haise has influenced your playing style this season?

He told me to push further up the pitch when I arrived. After our first friendly games, he and the video analysts showed me what I needed to do to improve my game. So I watched the videos after the games to correct my mistakes, and that’s helped me a lot to improve. And I’ve kept doing that since then. So the coach and also all of the staff have helped me improve, as well as my teammates.

So you feel as though you’ve gone up a level this season?

Yes, I feel as though I’ve improved offensively from my Clermont days. But also in terms of recovering the ball. Beforehand, I would win the ball back and pass it along – now, when I win the ball back, I can also bring it up the pitch myself, I’m more confident in that regard. I really feel free in the way I play here.

Is there a feeling around the club that you can keep pushing for the very top of the table in the seasons to come?

We’re like a family, so nothing will change in that sense next season, we’ll keep helping each other. We help each other when we make mistakes and we move forward together. That will be the same next season, we’ll keep working the same way. We’ll be playing in Europe, so we know that the level will be higher, so we’ll be working even harder to try and go far.

One aspect of Lens that’s attracted a lot of attention from abroad is the unique atmosphere that fans create in the stadium, it must be great to have that kind of support behind you to push you on

They push us a lot, we really feel like they’re with us. Since I’ve been here, I’ve never heard them booing a single player, even if someone might put in an average performance. They help us a lot, they understand football and know that everyone can make mistakes. When we’re tired, their encouragement helps us a lot to keep going on the pitch. We feel that they’re proud of us and that they’re happy we’re putting in the effort. And we tell ourselves that we’re doing it for them, especially when they keep pushing us in every game.

Your former team Clermont have been impressing this season, especially in the spring – have you been keeping an eye on them?

I always watch Clermont games when I get the chance, and honestly, they’ve really impressed me. When you see that a lot of the important players left last season – Mohamed Bayo, Akim [Zedadka], Vital [N’Simba] – I send messages to the players to tell them, respect to you guys and the coach for what you’re doing, I’m proud of you. Because they have quite a low budget, and now they’re eighth – what they’re doing is great, and I’m really happy for them.

Could you talk us through your World Cup campaign with Ghana?

It was the very highest level, I played against players I’d never faced before – guys like Federico Valverde, Luis Suárez, Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva … 

When I played against them, I could feel this was a different level. Even though we played really well, the others were simply better than us. It was really a very high level, better than Ligue 1. While I was there I tried to learn from the players there, especially those in my position like Valverde, and they influenced me a lot.

In terms of Ghana’s performance, we didn’t really have a lot of time together – even if we had some great players like Thomas Partey, Mohammed Kudus, Kamaldeen Sulemana, André Ayew, Mohammed Salisu… We had players who are at the highest level. But we had only met each other a few weeks before, we weren’t really a team in the same way Lens is, for example. At Lens, we all know each other – for example, we know that if one guy moves into a certain position, the other has to play the ball into a certain space. So with Ghana it was a bit difficult for us to play together. I think if we’d known each other for longer, we might have been able to do better.

To go back to Lens – this season, you’ve beaten the likes of Paris Saint-Germain and Marseille, do you think the team has a taste for the big games that will serve you well in Europe?

As a team, we never give up, we’ll give it our all and everyone knows their job. We know that Europe is the highest level, so we need to work even harder to make sure we’re ready. We’ve beaten Marseille, PSG, Monaco in Ligue 1, but it’s not the same in Europe, there are different players and different tactics. We know it’s going to be difficult, but it’s up to us to prepare. I think mentally speaking, as well as physically, we’ll be ready. We’ll see what happens.

GFFN | Raphaël Jucobin