If there is a professional footballer that we absolutely did not imagine embarking on an autobiography at the end of his career, it is Jérémy Clément. “Of course it doesn’t really fit with my character, smiles the person concerned, a former midfielder for OL, PSG and ASSE. I’m pretty introverted, but I’m also capable of extravagant things, like posing in the Stadium Gods schedule. “And therefore to publish on March 17 For pleasure published by Amphoraa “UFO” bio “which is not just aimed at a football audience”.
Currently coach of Bourgoin-Jallieu (Isère), 2nd in his National 3 group, and producer of his olive oil classified AOP via his company Roméo et Juliette, Jérémy Clément (37) has collected many testimonials for his work . Before ASSE-OM this Saturday (9 p.m.), in a Cauldron where the ex-pro player played from 2011 to 2017, 20 minutes discusses with him five significant encounters in his life, which he highlights in For pleasure.
Didier Barbelivien, the surprise birthday
Before being a leader cursed by the referees of Ligue 1, Sylvain Armand was a sacred organizer of surprises at PSG. Thus, for a birthday meal, his friend Jérémy Clément saw Didier Barbelivien arrive in a Parisian restaurant. “I already liked his songs and from there, I created links with him”, says the former midfielder of PSG.
Because the native of Béziers (Hérault) is the kind of player old school to swing a To all the girls in a pre-game playlist in the locker room. “I have always assumed, he smiles. And the more I got cut by my fellow rap or electro lovers, the more it made me want to put this kind of sounds. “A” quirky side “that he keeps in For pleasuresince the 68-year-old singer devotes one of his two prefaces to him.
Paul Le Guen, “the privileged relationship” of Lyon in Paris
The other preface to Jérémy Clément’s book is less surprising since it is the one that accompanied his professional debut, in Lyon (2004-2005) then at Glasgow Rangers (2006-2007) and at PSG (2007 -2009), namely Paul Le Guen. “We had a privileged relationship without talking a lot, says the neo-coach in Isère. There is an incredible bond between us, I do not forget that he launched me. My qualities corresponded to him and you have to be aware that unless you are Karim Benzema or Hatem Ben Arfa, you need luck to be launched as a pro. It might not have happened for me with another coach. »
The one who describes himself as “sentimental” remembers in particular an episode in 2013, after his very serious right leg injury with AS Saint-Etienne: “We had not spoken for a long time but the day after my injury, he called me to offer me to come and do my rehabilitation with my family in Oman, where he was stationed”. In his preface, Paul Le Guen also slips a well-felt definition of his former executive: “He is a ball scraper and a team player”.
Christophe Galtier, the express adaptation shared in Sainté
Quite unusual fact in the career of Jérémy Clément, between Paul Le Guen and Christophe Galtier, we hold the coaches of 11 of his 17 years at the professional level. “After being seen as the son of Paul Le Guen, I also became that of Christophe Galtier at ASSE,” he summarizes with a broad smile. As the epic episode of the abortive arrival of Anthony Mounier in Sainté in 2017, it is never easy to integrate into the Forez as long as you have been trained at neighboring Lyon, or have left a small mark there. This was the case of Jérémy Clément, triple champion of France from 2004 to 2006 with his training club, but also of Christophe Galtier, author of a double in 2008 as assistant to Alain Perrin.
“When you don’t cheat and you do things thoroughly, with respect, changing sides is possible, sums up Jérémy Clément. The Saint-Etienne supporters identified with us, with our collective strength. We were dogs. And what helped was that I had made clubs between Lyon and Sainté [les Rangers et le PSG]. And then I was not a major player at OL, so I had less of a Lyonnais image than Sidney Govou for example. “It is also in Saint-Etienne that the precious defensive midfielder will experience the longest lease of his professional career, with six seasons (from 2011 to 2017) on the clock. Which is not common for a kid who landed at the age of 13 at the Plaine des jeux de Gerland.
Valentin Eysseric, the improbable complicity
Jérémy Clément never wanted to see “the shocking images” of his injury on March 2, 2013 once again. During an ASSE-OGC Nice match between two teams battling for European places, the former midfielder , then 28, suffered an extremely dangerous tackle from Niçois Valentin Eysseric. The verdict is terrible: open fracture of the tibia fibula. “The doctor who operates on me tells me that I will never be able to play football again”, says the victim, while the author of the nasty fault was obviously expelled on the spot. Valentin Eysseric came the next day to check on him at the hospital.
Valentin was quickly branded a butcher and an assassin. His mental wound was perhaps even more difficult to live with than my physical wound. It was important for him to have my forgiveness, even if he couldn’t really believe me sincere for a long time about it. OK, I didn’t return to the level I had before my injury, but I forgave him right away. I could have done this involuntary act in such a game at stake. »
Valentin Eysseric delivers a strong testimony, as if to “close the loop”, in the work of Jérémy Clément. “The guilt twists my guts,” he reveals in particular. The improbable complicity, between two players who could have come to hate each other, changes dimension during the summer of 2015. Jérémy Clément, who needed five months of care and “introspection” before resuming competition in 2013 , is asked by his coach for an astonishing reason. “Christophe Galtier received me to tell me that the club was considering bringing in Valentin. But if I didn’t want him, he promised not to recruit him. It was very classy of him, and I was obviously very happy to see him join us. » A common history which extends until For pleasure.
Claude Dartois, the kif of “Koh-Lanta”
In the very broad panorama of the interlocutors of For pleasuredifficult to miss Claude Dartois, emblematic candidate of the show Koh Lanta. “I got a little kicked out of it because I often watch Koh Lanta with my son and that I was looking for someone fun for my book, explains Jérémy Clément. When you are a top athlete, you are lucky to have privileged access to an important network, so I took advantage of it. »
According to him, Claude Dartois is “a contract killer on the show’s events”, which gave him the idea of including his testimony in a chapter devoted to the physical and mental performance of athletes. “There is a clear parallel between high level sport and Koh Lanta “says Jérémy Clément. It is not Claude’s performance this week in the Marathon des Sables (250 km to be covered in six stages in Morocco) that will make him change his mind.
For the pleasure of Jérémy Clément (high-level sport at the service of your success and your development), published on March 17, 2022 by Amphora editions. €19.50. Online order possible here.