Before the opening of the new Ligue 1 season against Troyes, Sunday (3 p.m.) at La Mosson, the captain of the MHSC projects himself and also looks back on a last campaign he wants to forget.
Teji Savanier is back. And her hair dye too. Which is generally a good sign with him. “That’s what they say,” he smiled on Tuesday after training. After a missed end to the season and ended with an injury, the leader and captain of the MHSC wants to start again with coal. To erase the last difficult months and also honor an extension that he mentions for the first time.
A year ago, you returned from the Olympics. A lot has happened since…
Ah yes, a lot of things!
And especially this last season. Did you evacuate her?
It was a special season. We made a good start to the championship, then six months of shit, we are not going to hide it. We slacked off a bit, it’s a whole thing that we couldn’t win a match anymore.
Last season is a season to forget for me
It’s a season to forget for me. We ended badly. We have to start now, we have to move on. But yes, the players have evacuated all that even if I know that with people, since we lost the friendly (five defeats, editor’s note), we remain on the negative spiral. We talked about it a bit between players, we don’t think about it at all. We are going to devote ourselves to the match on Sunday which will be very important, in front of our supporters.
Do you feel worried on a daily basis?
It’s not a worry. We ask ourselves questions, to know how we can do to try to pass to the other side, to display this desire to win. If we manage to win one, it will put us on a positive spiral, we are looking forward to that.
“100% physically”
A half-time during the first friendly against Rodez (0-1) then an hour during the last, at Crystal Palace (4-2): Téji Savanier experienced a dotted preparation. Blame it on an injury that resurfaced during the internship in Spain. The same, with one thigh, which had deprived the leader of the last four days in May. “I bled on the scar. But we treated well and it’s better. I’m 100%”, he estimates, after a return to the field in England and to a torchbearer position that he could again to occupy, Sunday, with the suspension of Jordan Ferri. “It was the same role in Nîmes. I had trouble finding my bearings at the start. These are automatisms that we will try to find again this weekend.”
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President Laurent Nicollin has set the objective of the top 10. Is it up to you?
Yes, with this squad, we can do great things. Now we have to put the ingredients for and I hope we will do it.
I had other proposals but I did not see myself leaving, so it was not complicated to extend
Last season, there was the series of your extension, initialed at the beginning of June. Was it the most complicated decision of your career at that time (30 years)?
You have to agree on all points. It was a bit late. But it wasn’t the hardest decision, no, because I’m at home here, I’m fine. I had other proposals but I did not see myself leaving, so it was not complicated. I talked about it a bit with my family and I think we made the best choice. I am very proud to be able to play again under these colors.
Like a few years ago with AC Milan or Sevilla FC, have you refused foreign clubs?
I had some nice offers, yes.
Did Nice contact you?
There was contact, yes.
But you therefore remained with a revaluation and especially this status of flagship player of the MHSC. Was it what you expected?
This status no. I’m like when I came here. I am a Montpellier player, at home. But it is true that the responsibility of this captain’s armband is very important. I try to be the most useful in all things football and beyond. It’s a source of pride and a lot more responsibility that I try to assume as well as possible.
If I had been afraid of the responsibilities, I would have left
Do these responsibilities weigh on you sometimes?
No, on the contrary even. If I had been afraid of it, I would have left. I even think it gives me strength. I have the southern mentality and Paillade and I try to transmit it to the players who arrive.
Khazri, the recruits and Teji the matchmaker
Téji Savanier has not yet joined the MHSC recruitment cell. “It’s not me who will decide who will sign!”, He replaces when asked if his extension went hand in hand with guarantees on future players. Captain Pailladin still has his opinion on the matter. “We had a lot of departures last season. It was very important to recruit well and the club did it well I think, with intelligent and very good players,” he said. A notice, therefore, and perhaps a little more, with past phone calls, to Faitout Maouassa for example, known in Nîmes. “I inquired whether he was going to come or not,” laughs Savanier. Same thing with Arnaud Nordin, discovered in the French Olympic team. “Yes with him too we called each other, he laughs again. They wanted to know how the club was. And from time to time, I asked them where it was.” Savanier the matchmaker had never played alongside Wahbi Khazri. But the current has already passed. “Wahbi stinks of football. He’s a very good player and, outside, we are often together. It’s very important in a group to live well together. And we brought in some good guys.”
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Leaving is not in the back of my mind
Does extending to 30 mean ending your career at Montpellier?
I have four years left counting this season. We don’t know what the future will hold, I’ve always said so. You have to live in the moment, I’m very proud to be in Montpellier and we’ll see what happens next. But leaving is not in a corner of my head.
Has the indecision about the rest of your career disturbed you?
I always said no. But in the end, I think naturally it takes over. I had discussions with a lot of people who felt that it could weigh. Maybe that’s it…
Last year, I had a hard time with this situation of no longer winning. Losing like that was unfortunate…
In any case, it coincided with a drop in your performance, after five dazzling months. To the point that the question of your regularity arose. How did you perceive these questions?
I understand them. I did five good months and it was a bit empty in the team afterwards. We couldn’t play too much anymore. But it’s a whole: when Montpellier plays badly, it’s Téji who plays badly and when it’s good, it’s Téji who is good. But it is false, a match, we win it or we lose it all together. It is very important to remember that. Last year, I had a hard time with this situation of no longer winning because even in training, that’s my goal. And losing like that was unfortunate…
The departure at the end of August 2021 of Delort, of which you were very close, was it complicated to manage?
I have always accepted his choice. He decides where he should play, not me. It’s true that we were very, very, very, very often together (smile). But Andy, we know, he’s crazy, he makes decisions a bit at the last moment. Seeing him go like that hurt everyone because we weren’t expecting it. It took us a while to recover. We did it very well before it got more complicated. But we have recruited good players, we have good young people, it can do us good.
Did he make a foot call to you in Nice?
Non.
At the Tokyo Olympics, the clubs refused to let the players go. But for Paris 2024, I think it’s even the clubs who will call the coach
You have often been told of your gypsy origins, a community of which you have become one of the standard bearers. But could it have had an impact on your career?
When I was young, I know that could have been barriers for me in certain clubs. I used it to be stronger. I have a rage on the pitch that has to do with it. I am a gypsy and very proud of it. I’m not going to change for people. Otherwise they will go… look elsewhere (laughs).
We were talking about the Olympics last year. Those of Paris in 2024 are not far away. Is this a long term goal?
I think coach Sylvain Ripoll will have no trouble putting together a team. In Tokyo, the clubs refused to let the players go. It was in Japan, there was the Covid… But in Paris, I think it’s even the clubs that will call the coach.
For my part, I had an enormous experience. And I again thank the coach and the president of Montpellier for allowing me to leave. But I wish good luck to those who will be in Paris. I know very well that very great players are going to play these Olympics, Mbappé or Griezmann have even already positioned themselves.
Blues ? “It’s very flattering but you have to live in the present moment”
For at least two seasons and the sometimes stratospheric performances of Téji Savanier, the French team has regularly returned to the subject. Never summoned, the middle goes from afar to join the current blue group. The recent injury of Paul Pogba and a very hypothetical package of the Juve player, four months before the World Cup in Qatar (November 21-December 18), can it have given rise to hope? “No, I always said that for the France team, you had to be good on the pitch. I never talked about Didier Deschamps or the Blues, it’s always the journalists”, evacuates Savanier. “It’s very flattering, it made me very happy but you have to live in the present moment. I’m enjoying myself here and we’ll see what happens,” he closes.
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