Coaches swear by it anymore: give them a great goalie and the “calm night” herbal tea can stay in the cupboard for a while. You only need to look at the size of Andriy Lunin (1.91 m) and Gregor Kobel (1.95 m), who will play in the Champions League final on June 1, to realize that life is much more complicated for “dwarves” less than 1.85 m tall. So, big, yes, but how far?
Would Victor Wembanyama and his 2.24 m be a task between the woods? Not sure. Especially since the NBA rookie of the year already has a short career as a goalkeeper behind him. It was ten years ago, in Chesnay (Yvelines), his hometown. “He played from 2013 to 2015, most of the time in goal,” recalls Alain Despierre, president of Chesnay 78 FC for twenty years. He was a normal little player, but he loved being a goalkeeper. »
Le Chesnay forced to prove its age
“Small” is quickly said. At 10 years old, the kid was already 1.90 m tall and found himself defending a cage barely bigger (2.10 m) than him. Which caused some suspicion. Even within his team. “I thought he was a guy who had come down from the categories above, because he was bigger than everyone, even the coaches,” says Valentin, who rubbed shoulders with VW at Chesnay. We ended up getting used to it a little, but each time, the teams we faced didn’t believe it and thought we were cheating. »
The weeks follow one another and are similar: the Chesnay club must prove that “little” Wemby is playing well in the right team. “You had to show your credentials, with your license,” explains Alain Despierre. Sometimes we even had his mother come to bring back the kid’s ID card for checks, because people didn’t believe he was in that age category. »
“He was managing”
But the size and appetite for the position of the one who had as a model Manuel Neuer, the goalkeeper of Bayern and the German selection, as he indicated in an interview with Parisian, don’t do everything. Wemby was thus unable to prevent Le Chesnay from being caught one after another, the first signs of what he would experience this season with Spurs:
“ Probably the most defeats I had was when I was playing football,” he told the New York Times. We really didn’t have a very good team. When you have to guard the cages against fast three-on-one counterattacks all day, it’s difficult. It wasn’t my fault. Really. »
“I thought he was good all the same,” remembers Valentin, who moved between the first team and the B team, unlike our Wemby, always with the A’s. We weren’t a big club, we played against district teams, so the level wasn’t great, but he managed. With his size, he obviously had a little more difficulty looking for balls a little lower, but he remained impressive. »
Even if he moved away from the green rectangles after this stint at Chesnay FC, Victor Wembanyama, a big fan of PSG, sometimes comes back to hit the leather in the 78. “A fortnight, three weeks ago, I saw him play a match on synthetic at home with his friends. It was a bit secret, we didn’t want to publicize it. We were asked for a ball for him to play on and he signed a home jersey. » Not sure that Chesnay’s future opponents believe this story.