Before the start of the Ligue 2 football season, France Bleu Mayenne offers you a series of reports as close as possible to Tango. This Saturday, August 30 (7 p.m.), Stade Lavallois will play against SC Bastia. Zakaria Naidji is one of the two new strikers at Stade Lavallois along with Steven Nsimba. The 27-year-old played for Pau last season, on loan from Algerian club Paradou AC. Naidji has signed up for a season with the Mayenne club.
Barefoot
Impeccable hair, Zakaria Naidji, “Zak” for relatives, surprises with his shyness. It is on the ground that the attacker expresses himself. Trained at the age of 12 at the Jean-Marc Guillou de Paradou Academy in Algiers, the young Zakaria has long played barefoot! He only put on the cleats at the age of 17 after five years without shoes : “I was obviously a little surprised at first. I did not know. But you get used to it by training every day this way, even when it’s cold. Sometimes we couldn’t hold on, so we hid. The main reason is to have direct contact with the ball. It improves the technique. And I think this method worked well.“
Coming from a modest family in Algeria, Zakaria Naidji is proud to be a footballer in order to be able to help his parents: “I think I play football much more for my family than for me. I love playing football but I make all these sacrifices for my family. I like to help my loved ones. I love my parents and I like doing everything for them.” The player was notably able to offer a house to his parents in Algeria.
Zlatan Fan
The 27-year-old striker is a supporter of FC Barcelona, Messi era. Above all, he is an unconditional fan of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the Swedish striker of AC Milan: “this player is exceptional. I like his style of play. Technically, he is very strong, he is calm. _I’ve never met him but I would love to. In fact, it’s my dream_.“
Zakaria Naidji has already shown certain qualities, such as this 40-meter goal last week in Lassay-les-Châteaux, a real gem.