“Mikautadze is the Mbappé of Metz”… How the Georgian revived his team in the race to maintain

Returning to FC Metz after six months wandering around Ajax Amsterdam, Georges Mikautadze is on the verge of succeeding in keeping the Lorraines in Ligue 1, after ten days spent in the red zone.

A return to the sources which brings happiness to the Garnets. “Georges (Mikautadze), he’s not Kylian Mbappé, but he’s the Kylian Mbappé of FC Metz.” From the top of the stage of the Océane stadium, Laszlo Bölöni exults: announced candidate for the descent into Ligue 2 since the start of the season, the Lorraine club is in 15th position, just above the relegation zone, before receiving Lille, Sunday April 28, for the 31st day.

This place, the Lorraines, who signed a second consecutive victory in Le Havre (1-0) last Sunday, owe a lot to “King Geroges”. Author of the only goal of the game in Normandy, the Georgian has already reached the mark of 10 goals this season, in only 16 matches played with the Grenats.

On August 30, Georges Mikautadze set down his bags in the port of Amsterdam, after having scored 23 goals in Ligue 2 and propelled Messins into Ligue 1. By signing up with Ajax until 2028 in exchange for a check for 16 million euros, the young 23-year-old Georgian hoped to reach a new level and discover the European Cup. But in the Netherlands, the striker dragged on his spleen and concluded his first six months with only nine short matches played for three starts, without the slightest goal scored. Enough to give rise, even before the winter break, to the idea of ​​a return to a Metz team that is nevertheless moribund.

A king’s departure, a superhero’s return

“Georges is suffering in Amsterdam. I am always afraid of operations like that, especially if the patient is from my family. I of course hope to see Georges return, but we must be wary if that happens. I have already recovered from ‘former players, sometimes it worked, sometimes not’, said the Metz coach about the striker at the end of December. On January 4, the Georgian international with 23 caps finally returns to the lands of its success, as part of a six-month loan with an option to purchase. FC Metz is then 14th in Ligue 1, third worst attack in the championship with only 16 goals, including two already scored by Mikautadze before flying to the Johan Cruyff Arena.

“Everyone was waiting for it. Even the players among themselves. Some were going to ask the team manager ‘Georges will really come back?’ We knew that if we wanted to have a chance of surviving, it had to be done through him.”, tells franceinfo: sport an internal source. The substitutes for “King George” – Simon Elisor, Oscar Estupinan, Benjamin Tetteh – only scored one goal between them in Ligue 1. “You shouldn’t expect him to be a superhero”however proclaimed Christophe Hérelle, Metz central defender, on his return.

And for good reason: the native of Lyon had a bad time with his last months spent on the bench in the Dutch championship. “I spent over two months at the hotel. I was alone in this room, I was going crazyhe admits to The Team. I didn’t know anyone, I didn’t speak the language: the conditions weren’t right for me to succeed. All players need to feel good about themselves, to feel respected in order to perform. I’ve been disappointed. Besides, I’m on loan, but they don’t hear any news. At Ajax, they forgot me.”

Already 8 goals in 13 matches

In Metz on the other hand, everyone remembers him. Starting with his teammates, to whom he had not been able to say goodbye properly, transferred in the wake of a 1-0 victory against Clermont, where he was the only scorer. “He quickly wrote a message on Whats’App to apologize. But he was so happy to come back because our team has hardly changed since last season”, we explain internally. Holder from his first match against Toulouse on January 14, the man who swapped his crown for a cape will still wait more than a month before restarting the goal machine, against Lyon, his training club (1-2 defeat ).

Since his return, Georges Mikautadze has eight goals and two assists in just 13 games, all as a starter. His goals have already earned FC Metz 11 points, making him the most decisive player in the championship, along with Alexandre Lacazette, Kylian Mbappé and Terem Moffi. The fruits of workouts where “everything was done to put him in good conditions, so that he scores the most goals and regains the sensations of a goalscorer”.

Today Georges Mikautadze is relieved, still pushed by a public who has never given up on him. “I’m happy, I heard things about me… That I had come back for my face, to play for myselfhe rewound on April 12 at the Prime Video microphone, after scoring a double against RC Lens (2-1 victory). I didn’t like it. I came back to maintain FC Metz. I’m fully with the team and I’m giving everything to leave Metz in Ligue 1.” Eighth top scorer in the championship, having only played half of the season, he allows Messins to maintain the hope of maintaining. “If you take it away, I don’t know where we are in the standings, but I think we’re last.” assures our source.

The race to maintain as the only objective

He even does the “greatest happiness” by Laszlo Bölöni, with whom Georges Mikautadze says he had “like a father-son bond”. The pair today have the difficult challenge of emerging alive from a fight to maintain where they are only one point ahead of Le Havre, play-off with 28 points, and three over Lorient, before facing Lille. , then Rennes, Strasbourg and PSG on the last day. A slightly more affordable schedule than those of the Normans, 16th, and the Merlus, 17th, who must face Paris and Marseille between now and the last day, without forgetting the red lantern from Clermont (22 points), who can play spoilsport. .