There are coincidences that struggle to find rational explanations. The surprisingly large number of goalkeepers spent between FC Nantes and Toulouse, who meet this Sunday afternoon at La Beaujoire a little over a year after a stifling barrage, is one of them. In just three decades, Yellows and Violets have, each in turn, seen Fabien Barthez, Rémy Riou, Rudy Riou and now Alban Lafont and Maxime Dupe. “It’s quite raresmiles Elie Baup, also passed by the two clubs but as a technician. The post itself is already quite special, but it’s true that I don’t remember any other recent examples.“
Better training than elsewhere?
Not everyone had the same success in Toulouse and Nantes, Fabien Barthez is the best example. Launched in Haute-Garonne, the career of the 1998 world champion will end in blood sausage at La Beaujoire, after a derby against Rennes that the Canaries had lost. Not all of them were necessarily trained in one of the two clubs either. But the statistics have the merit of challenging. “Today, it is somewhat the professional trajectories of each that make players trained in a club find themselves one day facing their training club.assures Elie Baup. There is no rational explanation.”
In Nantes, there were good trained goalkeepers.
The quality of training for this position could, however, be one of them. The ability of clubs to unearth early talent at certain times in their recent history, another. “In Nantes, there were good goalkeepers trained, I am thinking of a regional stage player like Dominique Casagrande who was in Muret and who arrived thereremembers the former porter of Nantes and Toulouse, Philippe Montanier, now coach of Téfécé. With us too, there has always been a good school of goalkeepers. I don’t know where it comes from but we, coaches, are quite satisfied because this position is still preponderant in a workforce.“
“Opportunities to seize”
Throughout its history, even before it moved to La Jonelière, FC Nantes has proven that it was not left out in this area. Daniel Eon and Michael Landreau. “Toulouse also released some very good goalkeepersanalyzes Willy Grondin, trained on the banks of the Erdre and now coach of the Nantes porters. Today, they recover Maxime, trained at home, and we took Alban. I think all clubs work well at goalkeeper level.” A point of view far from unanimous. “You touch on a very sensitive subject. for all who like this postbreathes Elie Baup. Today, I find that there are a lot of foreign goalkeepers in Ligue 1. At one time, there were only goalkeepers trained in France because there was very good goalkeeper training. I’m not saying that we have abandoned this position, but we see fewer goalkeepers from the French team, which had a very strong identity.“
Alban Lafont continues to gain momentum and becomes a driving force in this team.
However, there is one point where everyone agrees. To be a goalkeeper and impose himself in a team, “you have to know how to seize the opportunities“, insists the new technical director of the Pôle Espoirs of Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire, David Marrau, also trainer of Alban Lafont. “The main thing for a goalkeeper is to have fun and above all to progress. In Nantes, Maxime Dupé did not have the opportunity or did not have the qualities to win at that time. Today, I really wish him success in Toulouse. As for Alban, he continues to gain momentum and becomes a driving force of this team.” And could, in the event of selection in the French team in the coming years, become the second goalkeeper to put on the blue jerseyafter wearing Yellow and Purple like a glove.