"There is everything that speaks for him," justified Didier Deschamps Thursday in a press conference, a few minutes after announcing the first summons of the Lensois, for the reception of the Netherlands on March 24 and a trip to Ireland on March 27.

"I will look at this list, I hope to be there," warned Brice Samba in early March, at a press conference. His performances this season as the last bulwark of the best defense in L1 and his ease with the ball at the foot allowed him to be preferred to Alban Lafont, the goalkeeper of Nantes.

At almost 29 years old, however, the blood and gold doorman could have thought his time had passed. Next week, at Clairefontaine, he will almost act as an alumnus in the locker room, only four players being older than him in the list of 23 unveiled by "DD".

It must be said that Brice Samba, if he is now indisputable in the cages of Lens, first took his time. In the summer of 2018, at 24 years old, he has only twenty professional matches to his credit in the jerseys of Le Havre, Marseille, Nancy and Caen.

It was then that his career finally took thickness. Rémy Vercoutre, of whom he was the understudy in the Caen cages, hangs up the crampons. Samba is promoted to N.1.

Goalkeeper Brice Samba, called up to the France team, here in the jersey of Caen against Lille at the Michel d'Ornano stadium, January 11, 2019 © CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP/Archives

"A higher dimension"

A season that ended in relegation to Ligue 2, pushing Samba to leave Normandy. At the dawn of the 2019/2020 season, he settled at Nottingham Forest, in English D2, where he immediately became a starter.

Three years later, while Nottingham Forest have just obtained their rise to the Premier League, Samba can not resist the sirens of Lens, who have just finished in a beautiful seventh place in Ligue 1.

The native of Linzolo, Congo, may be unknown to the general public, but Lens is immediately aware of having made a big move. "When he signed with us, we had an acquaintance of the goalkeeper who allowed us to say that, maybe at some point, it would be a goalkeeper who would have the potential to be in the team of France," recalled the artesian coach, Franck Haise, Thursday in front of the press. "He is a goalkeeper who is mature today, he has taken on a higher dimension with the club."

With its new goalkeeper, Lens quickly climbs into the leading pack of Ligue 1. And Brice Samba becomes one of Bollaert's new darlings.

If Lens have conceded only 21 goals in 27 rounds, three less than Nice and five less than Paris SG, it is largely thanks to its goalkeeper, author of some spectacular one-handed parries.

RC Lens goalkeeper Brice Samba in communion with the public after the success over PSG at the Bollaert stadium, January 1, 2023 © FRANCOIS LO PRESTI / AFP/Archives

So much so that after the derby against Lille (1-1), at the beginning of March, his performances had been praised by his counterpart at the Dogues, Lucas Chevalier: "Without him, Lens is not in this place (...) He's a top goalkeeper in Ligue 1."

"Frankly, he deserves to be in all three (goalkeepers in the France team)," Chevalier said at the time. The merit was rewarded.

© 2023 AFP