Samuel Umtiti, the leader
14 February 2013. Europa League. White Hart Lane. A date that Samuel Umtiti will remember his entire life. Actually, that day, he made people forget the two Gareth Bale’s free kicks against his team, Lyon. Indeed, in that game, Samuel scores a wonderful goal. A rasping half-volley from outside the box. He was 20.
This medium-height (5’11) full-back has been known by the public at large thanks to this goal.
He began playing football at 5 in FC Ménival, a small club in the city of Lyon. When he was 8, the big club of the region, l’Olympique Lyonnais spotted him and offered him to integrate their academy. During all this period in the academy, Samuel often wore the captain’s armband. His coach back there said something fantastic about him: “He was the boss. He was so thoughtful in his re-launches that he remembers me Marius Trésor*”.
During the winter transfer window 2011, Lyon was looking for a new full-back but coach Rémy Garde told his bosses that they had already someone in the academy who was good enough to play for the first team.
Et voilà ! That was the beginning of his career and on 28 March, he signed his first professional contract. Since then, he is a leader of his team and he was pick in all youth French national teams from U17 to U21. He even was U20 world champion in 2013 with the golden generation composed by Pogba, Thauvin, Kondogbia, Digne, Zouma, Veretout…
Next step is obviously the French National team and the 2018 World Cup in Russia. No doubt that Didier Deschamps already thought about him.
To conclude, here are some quotes from Rémi Garde and Cris, the legendary Lyon full-back
- “The accurate re-launches, he always had them. He worked a lot at the academy. The big players never lose this quality.”
- “Samuel the rock. It would be a good nickname for him. When I arrived in Lyon, people present myself as the white Caçapa. Samuel is the black Cris.”
*Marius Trésor was the famous n°5 full-back of the French national team in the 70–80’s and part of the Platini’s generation. He notably scored two fantastic goals in 1976 against Brazil during a friendly match in its Maracanã stadium and the third one of Les Bleus in Sanchez Pizjuán Stadium during the dramatic Spanish World 1982 Cup semi-final against West-Germany.
Raphaël Marguerit
London, United Kingdom
11/01/2016
