LE SCAN SPORT – Almost missing from the radar, Paul Nardi, a former French hopeful, made a splendid quadruple save this weekend in the Championship with his new club Queens Park Rangers.
If anyone was wondering where the old Merlus had gone, this video may give you a good answer. At 30 years old, he is the starting goalkeeper with Queens Park Rangers in the Championship (English second division), Paul Nardi made a superb quadruple save this Saturday against Blackburn during the seventh day of the championship.
Despite the defeat of its partners (2-0), the French stood out on this occasion. First decisive in a save from distance, he got up twice to repel two new attempts before finishing with a final reflex of his right leg. A remarkable action highlighted by his club on their social networks.
But before finding himself on the England side, the French goalkeeper who was described as a replacement for Hugo Lloris with the Blues in his early days had a more eventful career. Trained in Nancy, he was spotted by AS Monaco in 2014 who paid 3 million euros to secure his services and temporarily make him the club’s number 1 goalkeeper. But nothing goes as planned, the doorman never imposes himself in the principality and has a series of inconclusive loans. In Nancy, Rennes in 2016 where he only played a small match then at Cercle Brugge in Belgium in 2017 for two seasons. A Belgian experience which somewhat revives the career of the 1m87 player. With 81 matches played, the native of Vesoul will be transferred for 1.5 million euros to Lorient. Among the Merlus he alternates between the good and the less good and gradually establishes himself as number 1 goalkeeper. In 2022 after a complicated start to the year with Lorient, he loses his starting place in favor of Matthieu Dreyer. The return from injury at the end of the year of the Swiss Yvon Mvogo definitively blocks his path as he moves third in the hierarchy of goalkeepers.
It is for this reason that in the summer of 2022 he hastened his departure to Gantoise in Belgium for 150,000 euros. He spent two great seasons there with 51 matches played including several Europa Conference League matches. At the end of his contract with the Belgian team with which he did not extend, he finally joined QPR for free this summer to be the starting goalkeeper. After seven days, his team is 17th with seven points.
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