Football: Captain reduced by Luka Elsner, Teddy Teuma leaves a long way with Reims

“It’s not an easy position for him, because he’s a competitor and I put myself in his place. “recognized Luka Elsner on Sunday, afterwards Reims’ success (4th in L1) against Montpellier (4-2). He mentioned Teddy Teuma, captain temporarily suspended for Emmanuel Agbadou or Marshall Munetsi. Because the Maltese international midfielder (31 years old, 38 caps, 3 goals) started on the bench in four of the five games he worked for.

He was suspended in the opening match against Lille (0-2, August 17), then injured in the back for the trip to Marseille (2-2, August 25). “But little by little, things are going back to normalcoach Champagne continued. Teddy makes great efforts in training and recovers a level of fitness according to his attributes. I’m happy for him and it touches me a lot that he was able to convert this very important penalty that gave us victory (90th + 2, Sunday)”, his first goal of the season. He had replaced his most advanced rival, the young Ivorian midfielder Yaya Fofana (20 years old age), whose support Valentin Atangana (19 years old) and Munetsi (28 years old) is satisfactory.

So the Franco-Slovenian is trying to manage the case of Teuma satisfactorily, who will be found in the SDR this summer. The two men had rubbed shoulders at Union Saint-Gilloise, then in Belgian D2, between January and May 2019. The Maltese was bought from Red Star (L2) in the winter transfer window and the technician was first made his columns. .. before doing without him for the last two games of the play-offs for promotion to D1, unsuccessful in the end.

“There is a lawsuit, because there was a disagreement at the USG. It is not a false love between them from this time. There’s a bit of a war of egos”shows someone close to the player. The orphan of Will Still, the coach who brought him to Reims in July 2023 and of whom he was a true soldier, Teuma would have wanted to join him in Lens. But RCL’s priority was Anass Zaroury, the Moroccan attacking midfielder signed there at the end of August for four years.

Staying at Reims, who marked him largely during his summer tour in Japan, Teuma therefore saw his playing time decrease compared to last season (136 minutes in 5 games). He gets a bad experience, feels abandoned and sometimes this can be seen on the field. “Luca puts everyone on an equal footing in his day-to-day management and he has the support of his managementfollowing our interlocutor. But Teddy likes his little special treatment and the benefit of special attention…”

Captain during his only tenure (2-1 in Nantes, September 15), he is still officially, as he maintains a special aura in the locker room. Elsner (42) is very aware of this, as his statements on Sunday show. The Marnais technician knows that he must not mentally “lose” his player, under contract until June 2027. Because this could make him want to leave and affect some of his players.