Youssouf Sabaly, the defender of the Girondins de Bordeaux.

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Daniel Vaquero / SIPA

  • After their cruel defeat in Lyon, the Girondins welcome this Wednesday (9 p.m.) the leader of Ligue 1, Lille.

  • Bordeaux can count on a Youssouf Sabaly back at a very good level in recent weeks.

    Rid of his physical glitches this season, the side has all the confidence of Jean-Louis Gasset.

  • His contractual situation (at the end of his contract in June) does not seem to have any consequences on his performance in the field.

He did not score three goals like Ui-jo Hwang or deliver two assists like Rémi Oudin in January, yet Youssouf Sabaly is perhaps the best Bordeaux player at the start of the year.

Already considered one of the pillars of his team by Jean-Louis Gasset this season (21 starts in 22 games), the right side of the Girondins is in the process of regaining his best level in recent weeks.

A level not seen for a very long time.

Too long !

Author of very noticed debuts in Gironde, which pushed the club to offer him a four-year contract after a satisfactory one-year loan, the Senegalese has gradually disappeared from circulation over the seasons.

But never completely since no other player has managed to take his place at the Girondins since 2016 despite two half-seasons played in 2018 and 2019 due to repeated knee injuries.

The Bordeaux coach, who knows him well, still pointed out his state of form in the fall: "I find that he makes less effort [than at the time of PSG], he cannot because he tires quickly.

When I arrived, he was not at the level at which I had known him in Paris.

So how a few months later this same player found all his means?

Gasset has found the right words

For the locker room boss, the first answer is not necessarily on the ground.

“The advantage when you know the people you can talk to them and when you know the men you know their life and maybe in his everyday life there were a few little worries that no one knew.

Me, I am lucky to know him and I tried to help him on this and tell him the right things so that he can regain his true level.

Today, I find Youssouf [Sabaly] and I am happy for him, ”explains Jean-Louis Gasset, without giving further details.

Youssouf Sabaly has regained all his means this season with the Girondins.

- Daniel Vaquero / SIPA

Are they personal or club issues?

One thing is certain, the player had "very badly lived" that the Girondins scrapped his transfer to Fulham in January 2019 at the last minute when everything was settled as recalled by a former leader.

"They put him upside down that day and he was pretty up against the club," he adds.

And it is true that since it was a blow yes, a blow no with the defender of the Navy and White.

But as often, Laurent Blanc's former assistant has found the right words to get him back on track this season.

Second most used player this season

The other explanation for this return to the foreground is physical.

For the first time in a long time, the Senegalese has no problem at this level this season.

His arthroscopy of September 2019 is now a distant memory even if at the club, the medical staff take care of him like milk on fire.

As a result of the races, Youssouf Sabaly is quite simply the second most used player in the workforce behind Benoît Costil this season.

Who would have believed it a few months ago.

Always solid defensively, he once again brings his activity to the offensive level thanks to an above average technique and a good understanding with Rémi Oudin and Hatem Ben Arfa on the right side.

Jean-Louis Gasset admits today "to find little by little the player in legs that he knew in Paris": "Paradoxically, he is coming to the end of his contract, but I find him fresh.

I hope that boosts him and that he will have six exceptional months.

"

No negotiations to date for an extension

Indeed, the side plays (well) the game with the Girondins despite a difficult contractual situation.

Unlike others, he "applies" the instructions of his management.

That is to say that a player at the end of the contract must show himself, either to obtain an extension or to attract the eye of other clubs.

An irreproachable behavior which does not surprise anyone at the club.

A relative of the first team:

That doesn't surprise me at all from Youssouf [Sabaly], he's a very good boy, very professional, very methodical.

At the beginning, I always saw him being the last at the table and I said to myself: what should he eat (laughs)… In fact, it's just that he was always the last to leave the locker room afterwards. have done everything well, especially in terms of care.

In addition, he is a very pleasant person with a healthy entourage.

"

Youssouf Sabaly is coming to the end of his contract with the Girondins.

- D. Meyer / AFP

Today, he is above all focused on himself and the game after.

Even if he "will not make a present in Bordeaux" after the Fulham episode dixit a leader, the person concerned wants to be "patient" and claims to be "very well here" in a club that he "admires".

According to information from

20 Minutes,

Youssouf Sabaly has not received any extension proposal from the Girondins to date.

There hasn't even been any discussion on the subject between him and the club yet.

But this could change quickly, the management intends to start negotiations quickly and hopes to find an agreement.

But anyway, end of contract or not, extension or not, it does not seem to bother him with regard to his performance.

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