A French international has chosen to join an amateur level club.
It’s a signing that surprised many observers, given the player’s career: Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa signed up for Istres – a National 3 club, the equivalent of the 5th French division. The former Montpellier resident made the choice to go down to the amateur level to try to relaunch a career which had been completely at a standstill for four years.
We have to go back to 2020 and the year of the pandemic to find any trace of an appearance by Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa. The French international was then playing for Olympique Lyonnais. Sidelined, the central defender left the Rhone club through the back door, passing through the reserve team before disappearing from the radar.
4 selections for the French team
Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa will therefore try to regain pleasure by playing football again, at 34 years old. Revealed in Montpellier 12 years ago, this powerful and versatile defender has also had experiences abroad. After his debut in Hérault, Yanga-Mbiwa played in the Premier League (Newcastle), then in Serie A (AS Rome). A prosperous period which opened the doors to the French team for him. He made 4 caps with the Blues, between 2012 and 2014, at the start of the Didier Deschamps era.
