Yvan Neyou, here in September during a draw in Nantes (2-2).
-
Sébastien SALOM-GOMIS / Sipa
ASSE is crossing their fingers that Yvan Neyou, his best player since the start of the season, is fit for the derby on Sunday (9 p.m.), despite a muscle injury that caused him to miss the last two Ligue 1 games.
Surprise rookie of the last summer transfer window, the 24-year-old Franco-Cameroonian defensive midfielder notably distinguished himself in the first leg at Parc OL.
From the INF Clairefontaine to the Braga reserve (2nd Portuguese division),
20 Minutes
looks at the course with "a lot of disappointments" from Yvan Neyou.
“To be honest, I don't remember him.
This player doesn't tell me anything.
"If Yvan Neyou only needed 45 minutes, in the final of the Coupe de France against PSG (0-1) on July 24, to catch the eye of the Stéphanois supporters, it was not. even with Roger Lemerre.
Author of this funny confidence last month in
L'Equipe
, the former coach of the Blues European champions in 2000, at the time coach of Sedan, is however the one who launched the senior career of the defensive midfielder, then old 19 years old.
When your first two appearances (in 2016) take place in National against Châteauroux and Marseille Consolat, that lays the foundations for a “galley” course, right?
And this before becoming the centerpiece of the ASSE midfielder, as for the derby on Sunday (9 p.m.), which could mark his return after a thigh injury.
Originally from Brunoy (Essonne), Yvan Neyou still managed to join INF Clairefontaine, in a pretty 1997 generation, alongside Allan Saint-Maximin, Marcus Thuram, Christopher Nkunku and Amine Harit.
The native of Douala (Cameroon) then goes to the training center of Auxerre, where he is not kept after the national U19s.
"In Sedan, he still had his little bee body"
"The coaches preferred more physical profiles and I was a shrimp," explains the person in an interview given to the ASSE website.
All my teammates gave me back one, even two heads.
I was told that I had to work to become a physical monster.
But I could never have been.
"Massiré Kanté, his former teammate at Sedan, where Yvan Neyou bounced back in 2016, confirms this observation.
"He still had his little bee body so it is sure that this is not the player we see first in France, smiles the midfielder, now in Colomiers (N2).
We even nicknamed him '' Babidi '' as he looked like this character from
Dragon Ball Z
!
But he was never afraid to go into contact.
And above all, he already had a lot of ball and he took his responsibilities in the organization of the game. I liked to chain repeating passes with him in the middle.
I knew we would find him at the highest level.
"
"He hated losing, it was almost sickly"
It remains anything but obvious when this "good guy always putting the atmosphere in the locker room" (dixit Massiré Kanté) signs his first professional contract in January 2017 in Laval, and he also saw a relegation from the League 2 (five games played) at National four months later.
In Mayenne, he will know four coaches in eighteen months.
“He lacked playing time [14 starts in total] and he had a little trouble putting together performances, recalls Dunkirk defender Alioune Ba, his ex-partner with the Tango.
What quickly struck me was his technical quality and his vision of the game. And then he hated losing, it was almost sickly with him, even for a simple game in training.
"
In 2018, an experience abroad, with the reserve team of Braga, in the Portuguese 2nd division.
Yvan Neyou has played 22 games there in two years, without ever getting the slightest opportunity to appear with the first team in Liga Nos.
Suffice to say that in the spring of 2020, the Franco-Cameroonian "Babidi" is a priori very far from the radars of elite clubs.
On December 16 in Bordeaux (1-2), Yvan Neyou scored the first goal of his career in the top flight, with a superb volley.
- THIBAUD MORITZ / AFP
"He manages to break lines, he doesn't hide"
“During the Covid-19, several clubs came to speak with my agent, in L2, in Swiss D1 and in Portuguese D1, says the latter on the site of the Saint-Etienne club.
And at one point, he calls me and he says to me: "There is AS Saint-Etienne who is on you".
But what is he telling me?
I hardly play in the reserve team in Braga and I will go to ASSE?
".
And yes, because Yvan Neyou is not without knowing that his agent, Tom Calvet, happens to be Claude Puel's son-in-law.
Loaned by Braga on July 9, the defensive midfielder will take full advantage of this boost of fate to bite into his first adventure in the elite.
After having known “a lot of disappointments” during his career, he immediately established himself as the indisputable holder in the heart of the game of ASSE.
Privileged witness to this surprise arrival in Forez, the neo-retiree Loïc Perrin describes the immediate impact that Yvan Neyou had, from this final at the Stade de France where the career of the emblematic captain symbolically crossed, in the jersey green, that of the club's best summer recruit.
Nobody knew Yvan at the club as he came from nowhere.
It was a huge bet and a real find.
For me, he's ASSE's best player since the start of the season.
He manages to break lines, he gains a lot of ground, he doesn't hide.
He has a super interesting profile and he arrived without complex.
To say that a guy from the reserve in Braga can join our eleven, you had to have an eye.
"
A gift purchase option of 400,000 euros already exercised from Braga
And in this case planning a family meal at the Puel's.
Unlike the Nice supporters, who had taken a grudge against the son of their former coach, the right-back Grégoire Puel [64 L1 matches from 2013 to 2015 with the Aiglons], the Stéphanois are unlikely to complain about this win-win piston .
ASSE may even have broken a speed record by raising from November 18, after ten games played by its number 19, a gift purchase option estimated at 400,000 euros.
Now under contract until 2024, the other “Ney” of Ligue 1 is floating against all odds in a team struggling since the fall (16th in the league).
Yvan Neyou was very active in the first leg derby against Maxence Caqueret's OL.
- JEAN-PHILIPPE KSIAZEK / AFP
"He did not give up despite the galleys"
“I did not expect that he could sign in Saint-Etienne, recognizes Alioune Ba.
And wah, I saw it, his huge comeback against PSG in July.
I feel a lot more maturity in his game than when we met in Laval.
“Since the start of the season, Claude Puel has never ceased to praise the character of his key midfielder, one of ASSE's rare satisfactions (a goal and an assist in 16 games).
"Of course we have more fluidity with him," indicates the general manager of Saint-Etienne.
It brings a lot of freshness and not just physical.
He has a lot of humility, reflections on the game. He knows where he went, he did not give up despite the difficulties.
"
Amazing by his slaughter during the derby to go to Parc OL, Yvan Neyou (24) will try to bewitch the Lyon neighbor on Sunday (9 pm) in the Chaudron.
Word of "Babidi".
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