Lorient coach Régis Le Bris does not want to cut corners with his rookie Benjamin Mendy, who has signed a two-year contract with the Breton club.
The announcement surprised everyone. When he had just been acquitted by British justice, following the various complaints for rape and sexual assault which targeted him, Benjamin Mendy decided to resume the thread of his career on the side of Lorient. If this transfer surprised by its timing, everyone welcomes it at the Hakes. Starting with Régis Le Bris who, at a press conference, went behind the scenes of the signing of the former Manchester City defender (29), crowned world champion with the Blues in 2018.
“It happened like a lot of recruitments. We build a workforce with the desire to make it as competitive as possible. One of the challenges is being able to cover certain positions with real competition. As far as Benjamin is concerned, he is a position on the left, lateral, piston or even axial in a three-man defense. And that job, it’s not easy to findexplained the FCL coach. The recruitment cell has been working on this subject for a long time and, at one point, his name came up as one possibility among others. »
“On said to himself ‘why not'”
The fact that the former Marseillais has not played for two years due to his legal problems has not been a hindrance for the leaders of Lorient. “It was done that way, a player who can emerge in a database. And then we said to ourselves ‘why not’, even if it seemed very distant to us because of the status of the player, his experience and what Lorient is today.he added. But the rapprochement was able to take place and we are very satisfied. It shows that the environment we offer is becoming interesting for this category of players. »
Between the Breton club and Benjamin Mendy, everything was decided in two hours, during a video conversation. “Two hours that told me a lot about the personality of the playerappreciated Régis Le Bris, seduces the humility and passion for football of his new recruit. He is a character like many footballers in this category, whom we watch on television. The feeling very, very quickly passed on the connection and the compatibility that we can have with what we do here at the club. » The time to mature this first exchange, the transfer was completed.
Mendy not ready before “six to eight weeks”
It remains to be seen whether the ex-Monegasque, who releases “a lot of enthusiasm”, will be ready to set foot on Ligue 1 lawns quickly. Aware that his summer reinforcement is out of form, the Lorient coach will not cut corners. “There is repackaging work, very clearly. Even though he spoke, it’s not the same as being on a football pitch and rehearsing high-intensity efforts with a ball, a game to play. It takes at least six to eight weeks to lay the foundations properly”he said.
“We don’t necessarily want a player who will be able to perform fast enough. I think he is capable of that but he could suffer from it over the following months, with a form of physical decompression which would be logical, he continued. So we have to have patience and then it’s the experience we’re going to share together that will tell us if we can speed up or slow down a bit, to build something solid for the season. » The bet is daring, but if he finds his best level, it will be a real masterstroke for FCL.
