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This is called a perfect start. For his first official match in his new red and white colors, and before the trip to Nantes this Sunday (3 p.m.), Birger Meling has put everyone in the pocket. Fast, technical and daring against Brest (4-0 victory) during the first day of Ligue 1, the first Norwegian in the history of Nîmes Olympique took only 8 short minutes to be decisive. Upon receipt of a cross from Lucas Deaux, the left side performed a sumptuous control-pass without the ball touching the ground and on a step – for scorer Kevin Denkey. So much for the entrance.
As an appetizer, he took advantage of the free field left by the Brest defense to alert Romain Philippoteaux, who put him back in the space at the entrance to the surface to go find the skylight of Larsonneur d ‘ a powerful shot. We were only playing the 31st minute of play and the Norwegian international (11 caps) was already making the Costières stadium vibrate. “It’s very nice to feel that you can show yourself when you have the chance, enthused the one who was partly trained in futsal at Norwegian media World Gang. I can only continue to do the work necessary to make it a good season. But it’s good to show the French what I can do. ”
Meling recruited for only € 500,000
At Nîmes Olympique, we can already smell the good deal. Faced with the performance of the tireless pocket side (1m75 for 64 kilos), the new trainer Jérôme Arpinon explained after the victory over Brest in a press conference that he was immediately seduced by the profile of the left-hander with the golden hair . “When Reda Hammache (the club’s sports director, editor’s note) offered it to me, I watched it for an hour on video, I said it’s good, fire !!! I asked my sports director: “are you sure we can have it?” Reda told me yes! So we went for it! “ For only 500,000 euros, the transfer with Rosenborg was settled. A great find even if the player had been followed for a long time.
Even off the pitch Biggy, his nickname in Nîmes, has already found its place. Quickly adopted by the group which was surprised by its qualities from the first training sessions, it was not bothered by the language barrier. In addition to some notions of French he had before settling his bags in the Gard, Meling took advantage of the confinement to seriously immerse himself in learning the language and save time on his adaptation. “He’s going to see all the players during the games in practice to ask ‘how do you say that?'”, we are told internally to evoke a boy “Intelligent, structured and endowed with a sacred ability to adapt.”
Biggy has already made its way to Nîmes
“When we want a player, we come to him, we present our project to him. Usually he has a few requests but that’s it. There, Meling had prepared his interview, he had questions, which shows the intelligence of the player “, reveals Reda Hammache. The former Stabæk, who signed a contract until 2023, could well become one of the strongmen of the Crocos this season along with Andrés Cubas (24). Recruited from Talleres in Argentina for just under 3 M €, the Paraguayan midfielder is particularly expected in Nîmes and is already impressing his training partners. Like last winter, the current leader of the L1 is counting on the transfer window to maintain this season and experience some exceptional moments as was the case against Brest.
MC Biggy ???? pic.twitter.com/jlTETQQjsm
– Olympic Nimes (@nimesolympique) July 22, 2020
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