Gaël Kakuta: "Proud to have the Marc-Vivien Foé Prize with Lens"
RC Lens and DR Congo player Gaël Kakuta.
AFP - FRANCOIS LO PRESTI
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
Gaël Kakuta is the first Lensois and the first Congolese to be elected best African player in the French Football Championship (Ligue 1).
The 29-year-old midfielder says he is proud of a season with RC Lens which earned him the Marc-Vivien Foé Prize awarded by Radio France Internationale (RFI) and France 24.
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Gaël Kakuta, what does this trophy for best African player in the French Football Championship (Ligue 1) represent for you?
Gaël Kakuta:
It's a source of pride because it's my first individual trophy.
I take it with great satisfaction.
It's a good season for all of us and I am rewarded for it.
You are the first Lensois and the first Congolese to win the Marc-Vivien Foé Prize. Is it an additional pride?
Exactly!
Especially since it was in Lens, where I won my first trophies, when I was young.
If I am rewarded today, I would like to thank those who voted for me.
[…] It is a pride to have the Marc-Vivien Foé Prize wearing the RC Lens jersey and to also represent my country.
You finish ahead of the Algerian Andy Delort (Montpellier) and the Zimbabwean Tino Kadewere (Olympique Lyonnais). Did the good season for RC Lens weigh a lot in the vote, in your opinion?
Yes, because we have shown very good things, collectively and individually.
To be elected in front of these players - two players that I like a lot by the way - is a source of pride.
Your teammate in Lens, Ivorian midfielder Seko Fofana, was one of the eleven finalists for
this 2021 Marc-Vivien Foé Prize. Would he have deserved to be on the podium?
Seko, he's a monster!
Unfortunately, he was unable to make the start of the season.
I think it must have played a little bit.
But, for me, he was one of the favorites and he could easily have had his place in the top three.
This trophy is named after Marc-Vivien Foé, a former RC Lens player. What does this former Cameroonian midfielder represent for you?
To be honest, I was young when he was playing at RC Lens.
I got to know him mainly through video games and the Cameroon team.
But he was a Lensois and a great African player.
It is inevitably an additional pride to receive this title.
We remember Marc-Vivien Foé as a model player, always full of courage. What mark do you hope to leave in the world of football?
(He thinks)
I had a hell of an experience, let's say.
I've been around the world more or less
(he laughs)
.
I want a determined and courageous player to be remembered.
Interview by the RC Lens communication service,
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