Lucas Chevalier, the “child” of Losc on the threshold of the French team

The 22-year-old goalkeeper, who has been instrumental with his training club for months, will start against Slavia Prague on Tuesday. He hopes to qualify for his first group stage of the Champions League, before dreaming of a future with Les Bleus.

When he steps onto the pitch at the Stade du Hainaut again, he won’t be out of place. LOSC is relocating to Valenciennes – the Stade Pierre Mauroy is unavailable due to the Olympics – to face Slavia Prague in the Champions League play-offs on Tuesday 20 August (9pm). Lille goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier is preparing to return to a place he knows well. It was at Valenciennes FC that the 22-year-old goalkeeper blossomed, three years ago, when he was on loan from Les Dogues.

At the time, the young goalkeeper, who had been at LOSC since he was 12, was learning the ropes in the shadow of Mike Maignan, the first team’s starting goalkeeper, with whom he developed a special relationship. Lacking playing time, the Calais native decided by mutual agreement with his club to join VAFC for a season. “There, there was everything to show what I was worth in Ligue 2 and then to apply for what was above”the goalkeeper recalled during an interview with Today it’s football.

The beginnings were complicated, however. A week before the resumption of the Ligue 2 championship, Lucas Chevalier injured his meniscus. Faced with his unavailability, the Valenciennes leaders hired another goalkeeper, Saturnin Allagbé. Unconvincing, the Beninese international saw his young friend overtake him on the seventh day. “At first it was a bit strange, I felt like the club was counting on me straight away, even though I had never played at this level before. […] I had a good feeling, a good save percentage, and there was a kind of excitement around me.”confided to So Foot the doorman, in January 2022.

At the end of a convincing season (30 matches, 35 goals conceded, 9 clean sheets), the native of Pas-de-Calais was named the revelation of Ligue 2 goalkeepers. by the goalkeeping coaches of French professional football. At the same time, he was elected player of the Valenciennes club by the supporters.He didn’t make any mistakes“, remembers for The TeamJérémie Janot, goalkeeping coach at VAFC at the timewhen there were key matches, he was always decisive. It was a sign that he had real potential. At the end of the loan in Ligue 2, we knew that he had Ligue 1 level.”

After a year in red and white, Lucas Chevalier returns to Lille, as number 2. In a team coached by the Portuguese Paulo Fonseca, the starting spot is reserved for the Brazilian Léo Jardim, appreciated by the Portuguese-speaking executives in the locker room. “I’m not sure Fonseca believed in him very much,” remembers in The TeamOlivier Guégan, the former VA coach.

While the fans were pushing to see the “local kid”, as they nicknamed him, on the pitch, it was finally in September that Lucas Chevalier was given his first start, during a trip to the Vélodrome. A status that he would never abandon in a Ligue 1 that had learned to know him. The association of professional goalkeeping coaches (AEGB) even voted him best goalkeeper in the championship on 21 May. The reward for a season that saw him stop two penalties in the same match, against Metz.

Very comfortable on his line, the Northerner also has has evolved his kicking game. During the 2022-2023 Ligue 1 season, no starting goalkeeper attempted more kicks than him. “He takes up a lot of space and he is also an actor in the game, greeted Mickaël Landreau on Canal+, himself a former member of Losc. He doesn’t just stay in his goals. He has a great quality of footwork.” The Lille native got caught up in the game as he explains in So Foot. “I find solutions in risky areas and I can assure you that it is quite satisfying to find a dangerous pass, which goes through and breaks one or two lines.”

His performances do not leave anyone indifferent. Already a member of the French U21 team, he could have been the captain of Thierry Henry’s selection, which won a silver medal. “He has something very rare with goalkeepers, this serenity (…). It’s really reassuring”greeted his coach last March. But, having just returned from a meniscus injury and involved in the preliminary round of the Champions League play-offs, he was finally retained by his club.

Now, the costume of hope seems too small for the Lille goalkeeper who, at 22 years old, is applying for a place in the French team. “I think that today, Lucas must aim for the French team. He has been consistent at the highest level for several seasons, in a team where you are rarely called upon, it is very difficult. He has great maturity and potential,” said the coach of the Dogues, Bruno Genesio, in a press conference before the match against Slavia Prague.

Lille’s best player in the previous round against Fenerbahçe, Lucas Chevalier will once again be a key player against the Czechs. “Important meetings are going well for me, I manage to make my contribution. I am in a team that is dominating and I know that I will not have many balls, I will have to be very focused”the young Lillois confided at a press conference. If, for the occasion, emotions will be under control, the former VA resident recognizes it: “if there is a qualification It would be quite symbolic to have done that in this stadium.”