FBM: Laval and Metz already have six points in three games. Is it already a duel at the top of the table in Ligue 2?
Yes, but after that it’s a little early anyway to talk about “duel at the top of the table”. Both teams have started well, it’s true and it’s very good for Stade Lavallois who are promoted. I’m still a bit of the club, and it took a long time to come back from National. For him it is essential to start the championship well. If you chain defeats at the beginning, behind you will run to make up for lost time.
FBM: What memories do you have of your time at Stade Lavallois? (2011-2012)
It was just happiness. I was looking for a club at the time, I was unemployed. I arrived in September. Laval needed a left side. The club reached out to me. I had just terminated my contract in Spain after a year and a half without playing. I had played a little in Belgium and I absolutely wanted to come back to France for family reasons. I had Loïc Pérard, the sports director and also the coach at the time, Philippe Hinschberger, whom I also met in Metz. They allowed me to play a full season [Franck Signorino n’a loupé que trois match de Ligue 2 avec Laval cette saison-là, ndlr]. I wanted to prove that my shin injury was behind me. I discovered a family club and a city that I really liked. I lived in Changed with a fulfilling family life.
FBM: You were on the left side. And Laval, this season, plays three defenders with a left piston and a right piston. Do you like these new roles in football?
This is the new trend in recent seasons. Whether in Ligue 1 or Ligue 2, defenses are made up of three centrals more often. Pistons aren’t true left-backs as they used to say. These players are very offensive in nature. The system chosen by Laval offers more offensive prospects. I played in Metz precisely in this role and if you are a player with a big drum and with the qualities of speed, it is a position in which you have fun.
FBM: About what you have seen from Stade Lavallois at the start of the season, does that reassure you?
It’s a team with great solidity. When you win at Bastia, it’s never easy. Moreover, since Sporting has recovered well. There was a victory in Annecy by the smallest of margins, so Laval was able to be solid on the outside. Against Guingamp, he opened the scoring very quickly through Anthony Gonçalves. I would say that overall, this Laval team holds up. She has plenty of room for survival. Hoping that she makes a championship without always having the fear of going down.
FBM: Are you going to watch the match this Saturday?
We’ll see. I don’t subscribe to paid channels. Since I stopped my career in 2017, I haven’t been assiduous about club football all the time. I spare my family and my wife. When I can, I do. When I can go with friends to the stadium, I do. But I’m not from all the matches, I’m not from all the multiplexes.
FBM: What are you doing with your post-career now?
I joined the union of the National Union of Professional Footballers in a somewhat special role. I help players who want to get involved in one way or another in society, on causes that are dear to them: sick children, the environment, animals, precariousness. I set up projects with them, with associations.