After Manu Koné, Amine Adli, Fares Chaïbi, Christian Mawissa and Nathan Ngoumou, the TFC saw another pitchoun take off in the person of Jaydee Canvot. The 19-year-old defender joined Crystal Palace last summer for 23 million euros and has asserted himself more and more since the departure of Marc Guehi to Manchester City. Before his 1/8th final first leg of the Europa Conference League against Larnaca (Cyprus) this Thursday, the French international hopeful stopped at the microphone of French Football Weekly.
French Football Weekly: you recently justified your choice to join Crystal Palace by declaring: “I just wanted to go to a team where I feel good”. How did you know that Crystal Palace was going to be THE club where you were going to “feel good”? What was the project that we presented to you specifically?
Jaydee Canvot : the project that was presented to me was very simple: “you will play from the first season”. I was told that I was going to have playing time, and then we are still talking about a club which has brought out Olise, Eze, and other young people in recent years. Obviously, that attracted me. I also spoke with coach Glasner: a top coach. He had done very good things with his previous clubs, and in particular in Frankfurt with whom he won the Europa League (in 2022). For me, all the lights were green.
“The price of my transfer? I don’t think about it when I sleep.”
FM: you became the second biggest sale in the history of TFC behind Issa Diop (€25 million to West Ham in 2018) last summer. Have you had enough of people constantly telling you the price of your transfer (€23 million)?
JC: no honestly, it doesn’t matter to me. I didn’t think about that. I do my job on the ground, the financial, the administrative, it’s not me who manages. Yes, this transfer represents a lot of money, but that’s just today’s football really… everything is moving faster. But I don’t think about it when I sleep.
FM: You remained on the bench for the first 6 Premier League matches this season. Were there any details that caught your attention while watching matches in the world’s most competitive championship, up close?
JC: it’s the Premier League, it’s the best championship in the world. Obviously, I had to take a little time, but I was supported very well. Then little by little, the coach made his choices. Initially, the team was doing well, so no gifts. I worked and experienced my first minutes. I wanted to experience those moments.
FM: what did these matches experienced from the bench give you to be ready the day you were going to start?
JC: I scrutinized the players who were at my central defender position, I also looked at the players opposite, I analyzed their movements, and I also noticed how concentrated you had to be from the first to the last minute. Then the intensity of a Premier League match… I think that’s what really struck me.
FM: What has changed the most in your daily life, in your routine elements, moving from Toulouse to London?
JC: a lot of things changed for me given that in Toulouse, I was in my training club, in my cocoon, I had my friends. I went from Toulouse, where I was staying in the center (even when he played in L1 with TFC, Canvot had kept his room at the training center), to taking an apartment alone in London because I like solitude. But otherwise, nothing has changed that much in my personality. I don’t go out too much, I remain very much a homebody and my family comes quite often. The rest of the time, I’m at the club, making videos, improving my skills, then when I have a little free time, I play FC 26 or Call Of at home.
FM: you are joining the Toulouse training center in 2021 with, of course, the ambition of becoming a pro like all players your age. But at that point, can we already dream of the Premier League in the next 5 years, or is it a dream that seems unattainable?
JC: I have always had confidence in myself, I also work with people who have confidence in me and above all who tell me the truth. You can’t be like the others, do everything like the others and want big goals at the same time, it’s incompatible. I was always that kid who loved work, who listened, and I progressed quickly thanks to my mentality and my behavior. Afterwards, it’s certain that when I started playing in Ligue 1, I said to myself: “it’s accessible”.
FM: What struck you the most when you first set foot at Palace?
J.C.: it’s something… especially since for me, everything happened very quickly. I signed my first professional contract two years ago (in June 2024). I spent a year in Toulouse and went straight to the Premier League. For some, it was perhaps an illogical choice, because they would have gone to Germany, a championship which is successful for French people and young people. But the Premier League is what I wanted. The technical level, the intensity of training and matches, the infrastructure, everything changes. I have a lot of respect for Toulouse, it’s my training club, I love it with all my heart, but here, everything is designed so that you play every three days. This is the very high level.
FM: what was the role of the French and French-speaking people in your arrival at Palace?
JC: I get along well with everyone, frankly, we have a great group and no ego, like in Toulouse. But otherwise, the French speakers received me very well. Even Marc Guehi really supported me when he was still there, Maxence (Lacroix) too, JP (Mateta), Cheick (Doucouré), Ismaïla Sarr the same, then it was the same thing with Evann (Guessand) who arrived this winter (from Aston Villa, on loan). But now I have progressed in English (laughs), that’s fine. At first I spoke very Franglish with a very French accent.
FM: you are gaining momentum in the last matches with 4 starts in a row. Do you feel like you have your reference match, the one you want to rely on?
J.C.: hmmm (he thinks)… I try not to think about it too much because when you think you’ve arrived, you lose everything. But I really liked the last match I played against Tottenham (3-1), the one in the Conference League against Mostar (2-0), against Aston Villa (0-0) and Brighton also (0-0).
FM: you have already taken as many yellow cards as in L1 last season (2), do we really whistle less in England?
JC: yes, we still whistle less, well, it’s mainly because they don’t have the same football sensitivity in terms of contacts, duels, tackles. I got a lot of yellow cards, I need to calm down (laughs).
FM: you are going to play a Conference League 1/8 final against Larnaca this week, do you feel that you have the weapons to go all the way?
JC: of course, I feel that we have the weapons to win it. Everyone feels that we have the weapons in the group. We play the Conference to win it and we made it our competition. We’re going there to win a title, I wasn’t there last season, but they had the best year in the club’s history by winning two trophies (the FA Cup against Manchester City, and the Community Shield against Liverpool on penalties), so I in turn would like to win the first of my career. And why not this season?
“Marc Guehi and William Saliba are the defenders I watch the most”
FM: you could also find a French club in the competition: Strasbourg, which flew through the League phase by finishing first. Is it a threat and what are your views on this team?
JC: we played them at home (2-1 defeat in November), it was a good match that we should have won, but we missed a lot. Afterwards, I don’t particularly look at Strasbourg, I don’t necessarily pay attention to it, but if we have to meet again, we will meet again.
FM: You recently said your goal was to get “more playing time, experience and titles.” Where are you in this quest and what are the new ones?
JC: my goals are to become the best version of the player I can be, to progress. Collectively, it’s about winning matches, winning trophies, because Crystal Palace has become a competitive club, and we have to live up to it.
FM: it is indeed a competitive club which has released quite a few big players in recent seasons, like Guehi, who left for Manchester City this winter. What does he inspire you as a central defender, since you play in the same position?
J.C. : Marc, he’s a top player. He’s too strong. He spoke to me a lot, he gave me advice given that we are both central defenders. He’s the defender I watch the most with William Saliba. These are the ones whose style is most similar to mine.
“The French team remains a goal that I place very high on my list»
FM: Is there a player, all positions combined, who particularly struck you this season in the Premier League because of his level?
JC: Bruno Fernandes (without hesitation). His technique, what he exudes, is strong.
FM: Competing against players like Mateta every day in training can only put you in condition for match days. Is he really hard to take on marking or not?
JC: Mateta? Nooooo, it’s not hard, it’s easy to take (laughs). No, I’m just kidding, he’s really tough. Everyone knows JP, it’s complicated to follow him. There, he is gradually coming back from his injury (to his knee), so it will be beneficial for us to have an extra weapon.
View this post on Instagram
FM: he is with the A’s, you still have time given that you are only 19 years old and you are discovering the Espoirs alongside Yoro or Jacquet. But is the French team a subject that comes up on the table during rallies, knowing that it is supposed to be “the next step”?
JC: To tell the truth, we don’t talk about it too much among ourselves. But personally, I think everyone thinks about it a little bit (smile), because we are competitors and we all want the best. But I don’t think that far ahead. It’s the present that will lead me to achieve milestones, I just do my job in each match, even if it remains a goal that I place very high on my list.
FM: you certainly watched OM-Toulouse in the Coupe de France. Do you think TFC is capable of winning it?
JC: yes, I saw it, and I wish them to win the Coupe de France. It’s my training club, I wish them to win a new title so that they can play in the European Cups. They had a great match, especially in a special atmosphere because the Vélodrome is something… It’s really not a myth, and we have plenty of beautiful stadiums in France, whether in Lens, Lyon, Marseille, Saint-Étienne…
“We call Bondy “the city of possibilities”, it’s not for nothing”
FM: Staying in Toulouse, wouldn’t it be one of the very best French training centers today? And what do you think is its strength? (like Rennes, Toulouse produces generations rich in talent: Manu Koné, Bafodé Diakité, Anthony Rouault, Amine Adli, Nathan Ngoumou among the 2001s, Fares Chaïbi among the 2002s, Guillaume Restes, Christian Mawissa, Noah Edjouma among the 2005s, Jaydee Canvot, Dayann Methalie among the 2006s, etc.)
JC: it’s an underrated training center, it’s been working very, very well for many years in Toulouse. The training is very good, everything is done to make the young people feel good and progress quickly. This is the case at the training center level, but also when moving on to the pros, we are constantly supported. I think the Toulouse training center is in the top 5 in France now.
FM: like other well-known French players and even athletes, you grew up in Bondy, even though you were born in Argenteuil. What do you think is the secret behind this sporting success?
JC: I think that Bondy has always been a sporting town, you have a lot of land, and then it’s a town of hopefuls. I grew up there, everyone plays football outside. We call Bondy “the city of possibilities”, and it’s not for nothing.**
