In recent weeks, Inter Milan has shown some gaps at crucial moments. Beaten on the wire by Naples in the scudetto race, the interlists also failed in the Champions League final in the face of a much higher PSG. A heartbreaker for Milanese who arrived exhausted in the United States to compete in the Club World Cup. Authors of a sluggish group stage, the Nerazzurri were eliminated in the round of finals in general stupor against the Brazilians of Fluminense. A new setback that calls for the change on the side of the Giuseppe-Meazza stadium. A upheaval started for a few days now. Eager to rejuvenate an increasingly aging workforce, Inter leaders have activated on the transfers market and have targeted many profiles capable of providing quality despite their young age. From then on, Ange-Yoan Bonny appeared obviously on the front of the attack. Unknown to the general public in France, the native of Aubervilliers, author of 6 goals and 4 assists in Serie A this season with Parma, has caught the eye of the biggest Italian clubs in recent weeks. However, Bonny's story started in France.
No French club bet on him …
After many years in different clubs in Ile-de-France, the center-forward rubs shoulders with the FC Tours in 2018-2019. The following season, he joined Châteauroux. After a year with young people, he was promoted at only 17 years in the professional group. A sacred accomplishment for the time and which therefore demonstrates an immense early talent. Qualities unusual for his age that Benoît Cauet could see very closely. Coach for a few weeks with the Berrichonne, the former midfielder has often seen the young prodigy at work: “I trained it two or three times. He did not want to sign his professional contract with the club but he had really impressed me with his qualities. He was very young. However, he was very comfortable with the ball. When I had seen it in training, I was impressed. Very young, he had qualities which he knew how to demonstrate later. Humanly, he was a very open person for discussion and advice. He was a real worker, I am not surprised by his progression.»»
A fairly stunning progression that has materialized in Italy. In the impasse in Chateauroux, who had descended in the third division, the player wanted to stay in France to refine his training. Finally, this quest was more complicated than expected as Yvan Le Mée can testify, his representative of the time, who made numerous transfers in Italy with his agency as Mario Lemina to Juventus, Ndary Adopo to Atalanta or Hamza Rafia in Lecce: “We offered it to all clubs in France. Ligue 1 clubs, Ligue 2, none had a hollow nose to bet on him and no one wanted to line up in order to pay for his training allowances … Another player who had to go abroad when he wanted to stay in France. From then on, he had to find him the right club to explode. A club with a good dimension to progress. It was Parma, a historic club in Italy. At that time, Parma developed the youngest team in Europe. It was one of the five youngest teams in Europe at the time and the club was in series B. Italy was the ideal destination for young players as we saw many times. So I advised him to go there, because it would be more likely to have a playing time conducive to his progress.»»
… Before being described as a phenomenon by Enzo Maresca in Parma
It is ultimately in Parma that the Bonny phenomenon will develop. In a club based on the training of young people, the 1m89 striker took his first steps under the orders of Enzo Maresca. And the least we can say is that the current Chelsea coach fell madly in love with the profile of the French striker. “”By placing it in Parma, I contacted Javier Ribalta who was director of football at the timetale. From the first Ange-Yoan training with Enzo Maresca, Ribalta reminded me “Maresca comes out of training and says that if Bonny continues to do training at this level, we hold a phenomenon”.“It did not fail, after four seasons in Parma, Ange-Yoan Bonny was committed this weekend at Inter Milan for almost 25 million euros. After a big season in series B in 2023-2024, Bonny confirmed her huge talent during the cuvée which has just passed by being one of the great craftsmen of maintaining Parma in the elite.
A character and qualities that necessarily impressed Benoît Cauet who played for six years in Italy in his rich career: “Well last season, I was amazed. Serie B is something very hard in Italy. However, he already had qualities to play in Serie A. He demonstrated an intelligence to put himself in the game and to serve the game for the offensive of his team. In Parma, he knew how to do it and was quickly essential to his team. To follow the media in Italy, they all talked very well of him and were quite rave about his first season in Serie A. He confirmed everything we expected from him. For his age, he is very very technically and powerful in duels. He knows how to play very well with others and he is very generous in the game. He has developed his qualities even in Serie A and he even managed to be even more prolific in Serie A in a club that fought to maintain itself. It's promising for the future.»»
A tailor -made inter milan challenge?
The continuation will lead the old prodigy of Chateauroux to Inter Milan. Putting big on the young attacker, the interlists surely smelled the right shot. Landry Chauvin, currently looking for a project as a coach or trainer, led Ange-Yoan Bonny in the youth teams with France. Having been able to see the nugget very closely, the former coach of the U18, U19 and U20 of the French team is confident for the future of the 21 -year -old striker at the Nerazzurri: “The first time I saw Yoan Bonny was in Châteauroux. I took it on a U18 gathering in 2020-2021. When we see him arriving, we say to himself, he is a big strong, but he had impressed me so much by his technical quality. I wanted to see him again. When he signed in Parma, I wanted to see him again. I used it in the axis and on the sides. He's a great guy, I sent him a message to congratulate him lately and he answered me directly. He knows where he comes from and he does not forget the people who were there for him. He is a hard work. He has never cheated in his work and it is this mentality that will allow him to succeed. He also knows how to be patient. His strong point will be patience. Competition will be fierce at Inter Milan. This is how he is going to grow, but I can see him having a progression at the Marcus Thuram in the future. Yoan is on an ascending trajectory and I wish him to succeed in Inter Milan. I also wish him a brilliant future with the French team. ”
Faced with great competition in Lombardy, Bonny should initially be confined to an exclusive replacement role. A status that should allow him to refine his progress in the shadows and under the orders of a coach whom he knows very well: Christian Chivu. The former Parma coach landed this summer at Inter and therefore reported Bonny in his suitcases. A clear asset for the attacker as Confers Benoît Cauet, former Inter Milan player between 1997 and 2001: “He will find his trainer in Parma with Christian Chivu. It is a very good thing, especially since it is a coach who knows young people. He will already be tactically ready unlike his new teammates, this can be an advantage. After Inter, this is another level of everything he has known in the past. It is a trophy machine which has won many scudetto in recent years and which have been finalist in the Champions League a few weeks ago, it should not be forgotten. They are at the Club World Cup (Inter was eliminated a few days ago against Fluminense, editor's note). The pressure is necessarily different. Nevertheless, it has this ability to adapt and perform. He will have to enter the mechanisms of a large club quickly. In Parma, he had managed to perform when many did not necessarily expect it. He was a boy who could go very high, we were all aware of it as soon as he was close to him. Because his head turns properly. From then on, he has all the capacities to win, regardless of the club.You will understand, there is something to be optimistic for Yoan Bonny at Inter Milan.
