At the beginning of April, the Paillade jersey on the back, Remy Cabella gave the fictitious kick-off of Montpellier-Brest. And already, shivers ran through the playmaker’s body. So on the eve of donning the orange and blue tunic, but this time as a player and not as a spectator, in the enclosure that saw him shine eight years back, impatience is immense : “Puree… taking the Montpellier jersey back to the Stade de la Mosson, that’s going to make me very funny. These are beautiful emotions“, loose, a bit moved, the latest recruit, at a press conference.
The last time Rémy Cabella wore the jersey of his training club on this lawn was May 10, 2014“against Bastia. I remember it ! In addition, it was Cahuzac who was the captain of Bastia, while we were born next to each other. It’s dated, it’s been a while. Now there is renewal. I hope to walk on the lawn on Sunday and win (…) There will be my parents, who are the only ones to have come to see me in Russia, my girlfriend, my friends. And then all the supporters are waiting for me too, I’m happy for that“.
Full of emotions
In recent years, the native of Ajaccio has actually returned, but with the jersey of Marseille then that of Saint-Etienne ; the last time, August 25, 2018. Today, after several weeks of re-athletics and then training near Grammont, he feels that not much has changed: “yes, the players ! There’s no one left (laughs), but it’s true that when I set foot here or in administration, it’s as if the years hadn’t passed. Nobody has changed, and it really feels good”he confides.
I’m not here on vacation (…) to be at 200% for the end of the season
Competitor at heart, Rémy Cabella did not come back to take a check and take it easy : “I’m home, but I’m not here on vacation. I want to end this season on a very good note, to have a very good end to the season. There are seven games left, we have a goal and we have to achieve it”.
Promising beginnings
And against Marseille, last Sunday, his thirty minutes can attest to a fierce will : “In terms of physical abilities, I’m fine. Afterwards, it’s the rhythm that I miss, it’s normal. I train well, I have a healthy lifestyle. I miss the field, chain the minutes, be efficient. I’m here for that, to be decisive, to help the team win (…) It had been five months since I had competed. And it did me good to find her again, especially against Marseille. It’s up to me to get my bearings, to get used to the players and the team, and that’s going to do it! My thirty minutes? I would have preferred to be even better, I know I can do much better, that’s what I’m preparing. The important thing is to be at 200% for the end of the season“.
– Frederic Speich
The public was nevertheless able to see that his paw had not changed, especially on this opening in the form of a decisive pass that his attackers, Stephy Mavididi and Béni Makouana, failed to convert at the end of the match: “that’s the goal, that’s my role, my objective: to get the others to score, to score or be on the penultimate pass. It’s up to me to know the players around me. I now manage to identify them and I know how to adapt to that (…) I can play on the right, on the left, in the axis. With Krasnodar, I was versatile. The coach knows it. As long as I’m on a pitch, I’ll give 100,000%“.
The choice of the heart
On the meadow, in fact, Rémy Cabella spends without counting. On that of Montpellier, it is undoubtedly even more true. When he loves, the 32-year-old Corsican gives everything. And with La Paillade, his first love, the flame had no trouble rekindling : “When I came in the afternoon (during his rehabilitation, editor’s note), there was Mamad. He said to me: so, are you going to come? It’s true that I knew him, that I know Teji, Jordan and other players. It’s very important to know who you’re going to play with, whether on the pitch or off. It made me think, of course, and it made me want to play with them. And I want to have a good end to the season, for Montpellier to be in the top seven. We will do everything to (…) There are a lot of young people, very invested. They arrive very early, I arrive at the same time as them. They are already in the room working. For the future, it’s very good“.
We will do everything to be in the top seven!
Laurent Nicollinhe too, is of course not no stranger to Cabella’s urge to re-sign : “I wanted to play again for Montpellier, and there I had the opportunity. So I sent a message to Laurent: if you need until the end of the season, there is no problem, you know that I want to play, to win! He discussed it with the coach and the staff, they all agreed. It was done like that. If he hadn’t agreed, I would have understood. A player who arrives at the end of the season, it’s quite complicated. But they authorized him, so it’s up to me to be good on the pitch.”
Laurent Nicollin meant a lot to me, I walk by affinities
And if the current passes between the different actors, or even if it makes sparksRémy Cabella could then extend his lease, as we indicated on France Bleu Hérault, at the time of his signature: “I think about it, and why not! For me, the most important thing is football. First, I want to finish the season well. And then, if it goes well, why not? I get along very well with Laurent, he meant a lot to me, and I’m going to watch that, before anything else. I walk a lot out of affinity and love for the club (…) A football player is all about emotion, sensations. Already, the emotion of playing football. But playing for his club is something else. And then you have to have ambition. If we manage to finish in the top seven, that’s the goal, it will be huge“.
– John Catuffe