“The Evolution of Raf’s Game: Lorenzo Rajot, the Creative and Hardworking Midfielder Leading the Charge”

The joker has become a starter. From one season to another, Lorenzo Rajot’s situation within the Ruthenian squad has changed drastically. After having counted 9 tenures in 31 appearances in L2 in 2021-2022, the 25-year-old player has accumulated 32 games during the current exercise, including 28 in the starting lineup. “It took time to adaptexplains the midfielder who landed on the Piton in the summer of 2021. I came from Clermont where we practiced a game of possession. Here, we are more in transition, with a lot of races.”

With his technical background and his passing quality, the native of the Paris region was recruited to bring a different profile in the blood and gold midfield. “The leaders took me to bring more control”, specifies the person concerned. But he also had to adapt to the specificities of Laurent Peyrelade’s 3-5-2. “Compared to what I did before, I had to touch the ball less, go to slightly higher areashe explains. There were passes the coach didn’t want to see, areas I couldn’t go into. He asked me to make deep runs, not to pick up to get the ball, to stay behind the other midfielders, to go to the edge of the opposing area.

“I got hooked”

By his own admission, this apprenticeship took “a little too much time”. “At first it was complicated, I hung on”advances the one who landed in Aveyron in order to accumulate playing time, after having participated in the rise of his training club as a substitute. “I came to do a full year. It didn’t happen in the first but in the second. It’s better that way than the other way around!”

This time of adaptation is now over. Thanks to his technical touch and his activity, the elegant torchbearer with abundant hair has made his place in the middle and is one of the most used players this season. He was able to adapt to what was asked of him, while symbolizing the evolution of his team’s game in recent months. Even if they always like to operate in fast attack, the blood and gold are higher on the ground and are more enterprising, especially since Didier Santini succeeded Laurent Peyrelade as coach. “I have more freedom, I touch more balls and I often find myself at the start of action. It’s a game that suits me more”agrees the one that his partners call “Louch”.

“A high quality player”

“He is a high quality player.appreciates his trainer. His speed is not his strong point but we can also bring it by seeing ahead, playing quickly, orienting in the areas where we have to play. All this he does perfectly. He also has a lot of defensive play.”

Like several of his partners, the former Clermontois has raised his level a notch since March and the good series of Raf. As far as he is concerned, this came when the cards were redistributed in the middle, with the decline of Bradley Danger in central defense and that of Rémy Boissier in sentry. “When he plays in 6, Brad’ has an important role in the construction. When he went behind, I had to take up a little more space in the middlehe comments. We have found a balance as a team which allows us to bring out the balls better and to have more attacks in the matches.

An aspect that concerns Lorenzo Rajot in the first place, since his coach asks him, among other things, “to run towards the opposing surface to go and score goals”reveals the middle. “I still have to improve on the statisticsrecognizes the one who is credited with two goals and two assists this season in L2 (plus a goal in the Coupe de France). Since Didier Santini is the coach, I have a lot more situations. I’ve been involved in a lot of goals since Niort (March 4, which marked the beginning of Rodez’s good series, editor’s note). I’ve made progress on that but I still have to do better.” And why not from the end of this season, to help his club to ensure its maintenance.