He is the first Leopard and the first from Lens to win the Marc-Vivien Foé Prize.

At 29 years old, Gaël Kakuta was awarded the prize for the best African player in Ligue 1 by RFI and France 24. A consecration which rewards the excellent season of the midfielder, the most successful of the career of this globe- football trotter.

On the list, he succeeds Nigerian Victor Osimhen.

With his 11 goals scored and his 5 assists in 34 games played, he contributed to the very good season of RC Lens, current sixth in Ligue 1 despite his promoted status.

A contribution to the blood and gold collective which earned him the first place in the prize classification ahead of the Algerian Andy Delort and the Zimbabwean Tino Kadewere.

He was appointed by a jury made up of more than 100 journalists specializing in French and African football from a list of 11 players previously established by the sports services of RFI and France 24. 

Gone on the sly

In addition to being the season of consecration, 2020-2021 is also the season of homecoming for Gaël Kakuta. Born in Lille and long tracked by Losc, the midfielder was debauched by RC Lens where he was trained between his 8 and 16 years old. And, after wearing the colors of 11 teams in six different countries, Gaël Kakuta finally signed this year in his training club.

A club he had left on the sly in 2007, at the age of 16.

At the time, he gave in to the siren song of Chelsea, who hired him in defiance of all regulations regarding transfers of minors.

RC Lens will attack Chelsea in court and the Blues will be deprived of recruitment and forced to compensate the French club to the tune of 4 million euros.

Whatever, the one we then nicknamed the "Black Zidane" is gone.

The beginning of a career in seesaw: Gaël Kakuta will never really impose himself in the clubs he goes through.

Chelsea prefer to lend him rather than integrate him into their squad.

Then, in 2015, he left for Seville where, in delicacy with coach Unaï Emery, he would only play five short ends of the match.

Follows an exile in China, in Hebei China Fortune.

Gaël Kakuta assumes this heavy baggage as a globetrotter, believing that each experience has helped to shape it: "All these trips have allowed me to speak Spanish, English, understand Italian and have a base in Dutch. China, that hardened me. I took blows. The referee never whistled. Now, I have the reflex to continue my actions. In England, you have to be able to repeat the efforts. In Spain, I 've learned not to rush my actions anymore, ”he explains in an interview with L'Équipe shortly after his return to Lens.

The north of France, land of rebirth

Gaël Kakuta's career will finally bounce back in Hauts-de-France, with a stop in Picardy.

Arrived in Amiens in the summer of 2017, in the form of a loan despite the club's desire to buy, Gaël Kakuta is one of the great architects of the Picard club's first maintenance in Ligue 1.

With six goals and as many assists to his credit, the Congolese international then formed an explosive duo with Moussa Konaté.

However, he was forced to join Rayo Vallecano in Spain because, again, Hebei China Fortune refused to sell the player to Amiens.

The season in Spain, punctuated by injuries, is going badly.

He then hopes to bounce back towards the Stade de la Licorne but Amiens has changed.

The Picards are in distress in the championship and Gaël Kakuta, too irregular, cannot maintain the club on his own.

A no, then a yes to DR Congo

In addition to his hectic career in clubs, Gaël Kakuta experienced between 2007 and 2011 the youth selections of the France team from under 17 to under 20, ie more than 30 selections in total.

He even won the European Under-19 Championship in 2010, a tournament in which he was crowned best player.

However, it will never materialize in A.

Logically, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is trying to poach him.

In 2011, Claude Le Roy, then coach of the national team, communicated a list of preselected players for a match counting for the CAN-2012 playoffs.

He said no, still hoping to be worthy of the Habs in the long term.

🇨🇩 Gaël Kakuta and Chadrac Akolo were titular with the Leopards 🐆 of the Democratic Republic of Congo, beaten 3-1 by the Elephants of the Ivory Coast 🇨🇮 at La Licorne.



Kakuta played 50 minutes and Akolo, scorer, the whole match. # AmiensSC / #AmiensSCUnited ⚪️⚫️ pic.twitter.com/OEHzzMnQGR

- AmiensSCUnited (@AmiensSCUnited) October 13, 2019

Time is passing.

His first selection with the Blues did not arrive, he ended up giving in to the advances of the Leopards.

He honored his first selection in March 2017 in a friendly match against Kenya where he scored from a free kick.

A choice he does not regret.

"When I arrived in Sevilla I thought it was the right time to play with the France team, but after the way things went there, the way I started from there, I felt I was told that I needed an international experience. I preferred my country of origin and I do not regret my decision at all, "he said in January during an interview with Téléfoot.

"Every time I set foot in DR Congo, it's madness. In the country, people suffer a lot. Football allows them to forget for 90 minutes everything that is happening there. great responsibility for us because the Congolese rely heavily on us. "

Back home

Tracked by his training club for years, the playmaker will rebound at RC Lens, which recruits him by means of a loan with an option to buy (1.5 million euros loan, 3.5 million euros transfer from July 1 of this year for a contract extending until June 2023). The Congolese are delighted to return to the fold.

At the start of the negotiations with Racing, his first sentences were "I want to come back to Lens. How are we going to play?", Says his trainer, Franck Haise. The latter has the good idea of ​​placing him in axial number 10, behind two attackers most of the time. He becomes the one who improves collective actions, able to accelerate offensive movements thanks to his vision of the game, all with his high technicality which makes the difference in the area. Bet won for Lens while Gaël Kakuta signs his best season in terms of individual statistics.

NB: Since 2011, the trophy for the best African player in Ligue 1 bears the name of Marc-Vivien Foé in tribute to the Cameroonian player who died suddenly during a match at the Stade de Gerland in Lyon, on June 26, 2003. Are eligible for the Marc prize -Vivien Foé players who have worn the colors of an African national team and have played at least 15 matches in Ligue 1 this season.

• The winners of previous editions:

2020: Victor Osimhen (Nigeria)

2019: Nicolas Pépé (Ivory Coast)

2018: Karl Toko-Ekambi (Cameroon)

2017: Jean Michaël Seri (Ivory Coast)

2016: Sofiane Boufal (Morocco)

2015: André Ayew (Ghana)

2014: Vincent Enyeama (Nigeria)

2013: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon)

2012: Younès Belhanda (Morocco)

2011: Gervinho (Ivory Coast)

2010: Gervinho (Ivory Coast)

2009: Marouane Chamakh (Morocco)

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