SM Caen. After a tortuous journey, Quentin Lecœuche found his balance in Malherbe

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He slipped into the holder's crampons, on the left flank of the defense of the SM Caenas if he had always been there. “They immediately counted on me and I was able to continue,” appreciates Quentin Lecœuche.

His late arrival, on the last day of the Mercato, to compensate for the departure of Ali Abdi to Nice, did not disturb him. To move from Lorient to Valenciennes, in 2021, he had already signed his contract at 11:40 p.m. on August 31!

They called me at 4:30 p.m., at 7 p.m. I was on the plane! I took a pair of shorts and two t-shirts, I didn't think for long. The Malherbe project was the one for which I could return to France.

In Spain for a year, the native of Pas-de-Calais had found his happiness, footballing and personal. The left-hander played 26 matches with the Real Zaragozaan old acquaintance of Weed supporters who also fell back to the second division. “The club manager had played the European Cup match against Caensmiles the full-back. He taught me that when I told him I was signing for Malherbe.” As if his arrival on the banks of the Orne was written.

Used to packing at the last minute

Above all, Quentin Lecœuche found a poetic football in Aragon that suited him perfectly. “It’s attacking football, based on technique,” ​​he describes. In training, we do less physical activity, less strength training, we don't run without a ball. I had a blast and I think I made progress.” For his first experience outside France, the player trained in Lens also found in Zaragoza a fervor which reminded him of the sun that the people of the North have in their hearts. “It’s a city of almost a million people but everyone is behind the team. Even in D2, there are 32,000 people at each match and, in town, everyone knows you,” he says. He was therefore not surprised this week when a supporter of the Spanish club came to Ornano to have him sign a jersey bearing his name.

When a new coach arrived, Quentin Lecœuche felt the tide turn, understood that he would play less and did not hesitate to pack your suitcaseonce again. A constant in his journey, always guided by the desire to play. At 21 years old, the one his father took to the stands Marek, from the age of three, to encourage the RC Lens of El Hadji Diouf, Rigobert Song or Daniel Moreira in the Champions League, did not procrastinate at the time of go back down to National, to Luçon.

I spent 15 years in Racing, I was living my dream. But I was a bit in my bubble, I didn't even have an agent. It took a bit of getting my neck wet, but it strengthened me mentally.

It is this same desire to always bounce back which prompted him to ask for loans, at Orléans then Ajaccio, when he was not in the plans of Christophe Pélissier, the coach then stationed at Lorient.

He's going to be a father for the first time in March

At the Stade Malherbe, where he was “super well received”, the defender hopes to reconnect with the continuity that he had only known at Valenciennes, between 2021 and 2023.

With 11 matches played in Ligue 2 since his arrival, Quentin Lecoeuche has established himself as one of the safe values of the Caen squad. “I still have to do better,” he agrees. I need to be more decisive. Like the whole team, I have room for improvement. I feel a real awareness, there is something better in the content. We have to succeed in a series to take a breath of air and free ourselves in the game and in our minds.” The second part of the season promises to be good, in any case, for the weeder full-back, who will become a father for the first time in March.

League 2, 15th day Laval – SM Caen, Friday December 6, 8 p.m.

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