A real will-o'-the-wisp within the Lille locker room, Edon Zhegrova has had a particularly convincing start to the season, despite a few small air gaps, but must cope with the demands of Olivier Létang. The Lille president thinks big for his protégé.
“We recruit men above all”Olivier Létang often repeats, satisfied to see the Lille collective growing in a healthy atmosphere conducive to development. A point which raised a question around the set of l’After Footshow on which he was the special guest this Wednesday: “Since you are talking about human value, Edon Zhegrova was not always up to the task of saying he wanted to leave. He was also not sufficiently invested, you said so yourself. He is one of the players that you had to reframe at one point”asks Florent Gautreau.
“He scores an extraordinary goal and an assist, but then does anything”
“Edon, he’s a very good guy who has incredible talentreplies the Lille leader, ready to take this subject head on. I remember the first exchange we had before he came to our house. I told him we weren't going to teach him how to dribble because he has a gift for it. On the other hand, there are a whole bunch of things, if you want to go to a very high level… What is the collective project? How do I connect with others, do I come to defend… if you don’t have those qualities, it doesn’t work”begins Olivier Létang.
“Secondly, you must have consistencyhe continues. The big clubs will look for players who every match, every match, every match will have a high level of performance. I remember, we had a discussion with Edon after the match in Le Havre last year. We lead 2-0 at halftime. He scores an extraordinary goal and an assist. In the second half, he does anything. The very big players who are in the very big clubs, when they score two goals, they then want to score three, then four, constantly”insists the president of LOSC, demands with his protégés.
No exit voucher
Last summer was turbulent for Edon Zhegrova (25 years old), who thrilled the French press with strong declarations, in which he displayed his desires for elsewhere. LOSC did not flinch, closing the door to a potential departure: “Edon, I said it at a press conference in July because he had said a little awkwardly that he wanted to leave, that he would not leave because he was not yet ready to go to a very big club. I am always fair and transparent with the players. They know everything. Today he is doing interesting things. I think he can still improve. When I talked about consistency, he must perform very well in all matches”concludes Olivier Létang.
A few weeks ago, the Kosovar himself tried to calm things down by going back on his words at a press conference to clarify the situation.
