What is your assessment of your first months in Ligue 2 BKT?
It’s positive. I have the playing time I came for. I play good matches, I perform well, after that there are always things to improve, especially my statistics. But I think it will come. I am happy with what I show. Afterwards, at the collective level, it’s a little less satisfying because we’re at the bottom of the ranking. Even if we are going up and we are hanging on, I think we can do better collectively.
Why did you choose to be loaned out?
It frustrated me not to play during the summer preparation with Lorient and I decided to seek playing time elsewhere to have a full season. I wanted to be important in a squad. In Ligue 1 Uber Eats, I was definitely going to make entries but I was not guaranteed to play at all. Then, as I was coming out of a good season in N2 (10 buts), being loaned to Nîmes was a great opportunity. I wanted to grab it and, frankly, I have no regrets.
You waited almost five months to score your first league goal. How did you experience this period?
I lived it badly! At first, I told myself that it was coming, then over time it started to run through my head, it became difficult mentally. I had a lot of doubts that were setting in, especially since the team was also struggling, and this match against Niort allowed me to dispel them. Before this meeting, I said to myself that I had to think a little more about myself and that I really wanted to score this goal to finally unlock my counter, and it happened. Since then, on a mental level, it has done me a lot of good. I feel much more liberated.
How do you manage the fact of playing maintenance in Ligue 2 BKT for your first season as a pro?
It’s true that for a young player, it’s tricky. I had never been embarked on a mission like this. But I tell myself that it is better to know this situation when I was young, at least I would have experienced it. I try not to worry too much. When I get home, I try to think about something else, even if it’s very, very difficult. Football is my whole life, so it’s not easy to break away from it. But I try to retain only the positive, that’s what the coach keeps repeating. If we are negative, we will never succeed, it is impossible.
“I was on the verge of quitting football”
You spent six years at Stade Rennais before joining Lorient in 2018, what memories do you keep?
I started there even before pre-training. Back then, I was really just playing for fun, just for fun. I didn’t really have in mind to want to become a professional footballer. It was only when I arrived in U16, when Lorient contacted my father, that I had to make a real decision. I had the choice between staying at home or leaving, and that’s when I made up my mind. I said to myself that football was really what I wanted to do, that I was passionate about it and that I had to take flight.
Were you more attracted by the FC Lorient project than that of Stade Rennais?
Already, Rennes offered me to integrate its section but not its training center. Afterwards, I had been attracted for a long time by the game offered by Lorient among young people. I told my father that the players and the football he offered suited me. So, as soon as they wanted to pick me up, I was thrilled.
How did your first steps with Les Merlus go?
At first it went very badly. I was injured for almost a year and a half because I had back problems related to my growth. I was close to quitting football. I didn’t understand what I had, there was nothing, no real diagnosis. As soon as I returned to the field, it hurt me and I had to stop. It was very difficult to live with, especially since I had just left the family cocoon. But I persevered and it eventually passed. Then I did my scales, then I quickly moved up to National 2 with the reserve team.
“Regis Le Bris? He’s the coach who made me progress the most.”
Precisely, you evolved under the orders of Régis Le Bris, one of the revelations at the post of coach this season in Ligue 1 Uber Eats, was he as pedagogical as we can see today?
He hasn’t changed the way he coaches at all, and that’s what’s beautiful, what’s strong. What he did with the reserve team, he manages to reproduce it in Ligue 1 Uber Eats. He’s the coach who made me progress the most, both technically and tactically. Thanks to him, I know football even better because he uses video a lot. It can sometimes be boring but, over time, you realize that it is very important to successfully understand the game he wants to put in place. Everything is articulated around his game plan. He uses videos of matches, whether of his team or European teams, and highlights the placements and movements that need to be improved or the choices to be made in this or that situation.
Have you had any feedback from FC Lorient since the start of your loan?
Yes, I am followed by the coach’s assistants. They tell me that it’s good and that I have to continue to strengthen myself. They do not necessarily insist on particular points. Afterwards, I am someone who is objective and lucid about my performances, I know when I have had a good match or not. Then, I talk about it a lot with my father and my agents.
Precisely, you spoke several times about your father, Mickaël Pagis. What role does he play in your career?
We discuss after each of my matches, it is often very technical. He has a background so I totally listen to what he tells me. I know very well that it will serve me and that it will not pull me down. He always gives me a little debrief and I feel each time that it will help me progress. For my part, I give him my feelings and I explain to him what the coach is asking me. These are really exchanges. He also tries to come and see my matches when he can but it’s not next door (He lives in Rennes).
It must have been easier when you were in Lorient…
He came to see me practically during all my matches. In fact, last year with the reserve team was my first full season in a championship without having any problems and he really helped me and brought me a lot. After each match, he advised me on what I had done and told me my truths. I tried to always take his feedback in a positive way but it was not always easy to hear. This is still the case today but I have already acquired a little more maturity and experience.
“If tomorrow no one speaks to me about my father, it would make me feel weird”
Do you have an example of advice from him?
He sometimes advises me on my investments. Sometimes I’m a little too glued to the opponent, so we talk about the fact that I have to get out of the marking. He explains to me that I have to hide a little more by putting myself behind my opponent’s back, that he has to lose sight of me before I reappear later. I kind of have to get out of the line of sight of the defenders more.
You play in a club he went through and with the same shirt number (11). Is it easy to manage?
Frankly, it’s okay! Now that I’m older, it’s something I know how to handle. People talk to me about it and repeat it to me since childhood. Of course, when I was younger, it was complicated. But it’s like that, that people tell me all the time my father this or that, I got used to it. If no one talks about it tomorrow, that would be weird too. Regarding the jersey number, 11 was available and my father told me that was the one he had, so I thought: ” It doesn’t matter, just do the same! » (laughter). Afterwards, my objective, I’ve always said it, is for people to say that Mickaël is the father of and no longer Pablo is the son of.
How do you react when your teammates challenge you on this point?
They did not hesitate to do so during my double. I laughed with them. You don’t have to start fighting. In addition, at the club, there is a good example with Thibault Giresse (son of Alain Giresse). We talked about it once or twice. He told me that once you finally make a name for yourself in football, it passes and you have to deal with it. Anyway, I know very well that there will always be comparisons, it’s mandatory.
Especially since your father says that you have a bit the same profile as him…
It’s true (smile). We have somewhat the same qualities… But it was a different time! I’m a player who likes to make sharp passes and speed up the game with one touch. I also have a good finish and I can perform somewhat spectacular and unpredictable gestures. But there’s just the style of play that’s comparable because, in terms of performance, it’s not comparable at all.
At the end of this freelance at Nîmes Olympique, is the idea to win in Lorient?
It is to impose myself in a Ligue 1 club. Afterwards, whether in Lorient or in another club, we will see. Of course, Lorient is the club where I trained, so I hope it will be possible. When I see some of my teammates with whom I was with the young people, like Théo (Le Bris), winning, it makes you want, that’s for sure. But, as I said, this year, I made the choice to go to Ligue 2 to play and get tougher. Everything in its time !
