A central defender trained at RC Strasbourg, Martin Djetou is now part of the Alsatian club’s daily life as a youth coach. His career has been quite an adventure, strewn with pitfalls. Champion of France in 1997 with AS Monaco, under the orders of Jean Tigana, he joined the French team, much appreciated by AimĂ© Jacquet. But he was one of the six players excluded a few days before the 98 World Cup won by the Blues… A hell of a nightmare for those concerned.
Djetou looks back on his early career in The Legends Podcast. Ivorian by birth, he grew up in the Paris suburbs and was spotted at US Créteil. If he is failed by AJ Auxerre – where Guy Roux says: “I already have some Djetou in my team” -, Martin Djetou also refuses the very interesting proposal from the Girondins de Bordeaux. He said yes to RC Strasbourg, where he joined the training center at the age of 16, alongside Valérien Ismaël and Olivier Dacourt.
“Strasbourg is my first choice. I would like to point out that I have the contract ready to sign in Bordeaux. At the time, it was 3,500 francs in Bordeaux, for a kid! I refused to sign my first contract in Strasbourg for 701 francs and 13 centimes. If that’s not love, I don’t know what is! »launches Martin Djetou, who has therefore turned his back on a monthly salary of 898 euros for a minimum remuneration of 180 euros! A tiny nest egg, even to play football while living in the center “under a Meinau stand”.
Olivier Dacourt takes Martin Djetou to town
Djetou explains: “In Bordeaux, it was always football, eating, sleeping… I said to myself: ‘Is this football? Well in this case, I stay in CrĂ©teil’. Since I had one or two training sessions, I could see my friends. Strasbourg absolutely wanted to sign me and as they knew why I had not signed for Bordeaux, they asked Olivier
(Dacourt) to show me around Strasbourg, because I hadn’t visited Bordeaux, I hadn’t seen anything, I had stayed in Haillan. So Olivier took me for a walk in town and we played tennis…”
Despite his modest living conditions in Val-de-Marne, Martin Djetou did not want to “earn money but win titles”. He therefore opted for Alsace, continuing his training in Racing. However, the colossus was launched by Gilbert Gress six months later, in August 1992, at the age of 17, during a defeat against PSG. Four seasons in French D1 allowed him to join AS Monaco, where he spent his best years, before a nightmarish career in Parma, Fulham, Nice and Bolton.
