With the signing of the now ex-Lensois in Rennes, Steve Mandanda and Brice Samba will meet again. The latest stage of a journey that is particularly disturbing due to its similarities.
The strings almost seem a little too big for the scenario to find its place in a film. From Central Africa to the French team, passing from the gray Normandy to the sun of Marseille, the destinies of Steve Mandanda and Brice Samba have never stopped crossing or following each other. Until Rennes, where the now ex-Lensois goalkeeper has just set down his bags.
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A childhood in the same neighborhood in Évreux
This stage in Ille-et-Vilaine is the latest chapter in a shared history that is particularly disturbing due to its similarities. Nine years apart, the two French internationals were born less than 40 km from each other, in Kinshasa (Mandanda) and Linzolo (Samba), respectively in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) and Congo .
They came to France at a very young age, with Normandy as their base. They discovered football there and learned their skills at ALM Évreux (Eure), a club in the Madeleine district where the two future goalkeepers grew up, like Ousmane Dembélé or Dayot Upamecano. Even if they are not of the same generation, the two were brought together in Évreux, as Samba confided in After Foot, on RMC, in January 2013.
Discovering the professional world in Le Havre
Their (young) career then took a turning point with their arrival at the Le Havre training center. Steve Mandanda joined the HAC at 15, while Brice Samba was three years younger at the time of his signing. The two teenagers impress with their maturity. In the columns of Le Parisien, Michel Courel, historic trainer of Le Havre doormen, remembers young people “exemplary in their attitude and their relationship with others” and leaders “who speak little but with accuracy”, all with a “strong character “.
During the 2000s, Steve Mandanda gradually climbed the ranks until he established himself in the goals of the Le Havre professional team. He played two seasons in Ligue 2 between 2005 and 2007, at a time when the young Brice Samba was just joining the HAC youth teams. “We spent a season where he was in the pro group and I was at the training center,” Samba confided on RMC in 2013. “We saw each other a little when the goalkeepers from the two groups joined together.”
Samba was not able to learn from Mandanda for long since the older of the two goalkeepers took charge of Marseille in the summer of 2007, first on loan then as part of a permanent transfer a year later (compared to 2 .5 million euros). While Il Fenomeno capsizes the Vélodrome, notably with a trophy for best goalkeeper in Ligue 1 in 2008 and a French champion title in 2010, Brice Samba is patiently building the start of his young career. Always following in the footsteps of his predecessor in the HAC cages. Unlike Steve Mandanda, Brice Samba does not play any Ligue 2 matches and is content with two matches in the Coupe de France during the 2012-2013 season. Which does not prevent a Ligue 1 club that Steve Mandanda knows well from being interested in him.
At OM, a difficult understudy role for Samba
In January 2013, the thread of the common history between the two goalkeepers was renewed. While he was not yet 19, Brice Samba signed up with OM for a check for 400,000 euros to become Steve Mandanda's understudy. “They did not come in the same conditions,” notes Robert Nazaretian, vice-president of the OM association since 1995, who worked alongside the two players during their time at the Canebière. “Mandanda came at the time to compete with Cédric Carrasso. Whereas when Brice came, Mandanda was already established and there was no question of him coming to replace him. Brice was an understudy.”
In this role of understudy, Brice Samba must be satisfied with crumbs. In four years under contract with OM, the former Le Havre player only played four matches with the first team: one in Ligue 1 (May 2014), two in the Coupe de France (January 2014 and January 2015) and one in the Coupe de France. of the League (October 2014). During the 2015-2016 season, he was forced to go into exile at AS Nancy-Lorraine, in Ligue 2, where he was once again No. 2 in the hierarchy behind Guy Ndy Assembé (6 matches played). Rebelote during the 2016-2017 season, where the starting place in the Marseille cages went to Yohann Pelé during Steve Mandanda's time at Crystal Palace. “I was predicted to succeed Mandanda,” remembers Brice Samba in an interview with Our Mondial in August 2023. “For many, it was my destiny. But I wasn't ready (…) I ended up understanding that Marseille was not the place where I should be born.”
“Steve brought him a lot of things”
Despite all the frustration that such a situation can cause, Brice Samba is champing at the bit and patiently biding his time. In the imposing shadow of Taulier Mandanda… but without making any waves.
“They had a good relationship, without being very close either. It's the game, it's the competition that wants that, it's every man for himself, everyone defends their steak. But Brice is a good boy, just like Steve, who is a sweetheart,” explains Robert Nazaretian.
“Their relationship was very good,” says Laurent Spinosi, who worked with both players in 2013-2014 when he was OM goalkeeping coach. “It was the young man and the captain. They had a great understanding. I loved working with both. Steve was already international and Brice was really attentive. We felt that he was progressing with each passing month. Steve brought him a lot. They are two goalkeepers with different qualities, but they are similar in character. They are two calm people, who control their emotions and their penalty area. They are respected by their teammates. in the personality on the ground.”
While Steve Mandanda continues to write his legend in the Marseille jersey, Brice Samba ends up returning to where it all began, in Normandy. Purchased around two million euros by Stade Malherbe Caen in 2017, he played the entire 2018-2019 Ligue 1 season as a starter. At 25, he seems to be reaching maturity and is catching the eye of Nottingham Forest, in the English D2. Between 2019 and 2022, Brice Samba succeeds where Steve Mandanda had failed, that is to say winning across the Channel (Mandanda had only played 10 matches at Crystal Palace in 2016-2017).
Crossed destinies among the Blues
After three full seasons of Brice Samba in England, far from France and Steve Mandanda, the destinies of the two goalkeepers will meet again. But this time only to cross paths. Brilliant in the Lens jersey, which he joined a few months earlier, Brice Samba was called up for the first time by the French team in March 2023 thanks to a door opened by… the international retirement of Steve Mandanda. The end of the latter's selection career, combined with that of Hugo Lloris, redistributes the cards among the Blues, where Samba arrives to be Mike Maignan's understudy, as Steve Mandanda was for Hugo Lloris for years.
“It's funny that I arrive when Steve leaves the France team. We have a bit of a similar journey with our previous clubs. He must be proud of me”, smiles Brice Samba during his first press conference with the Blues. Faced with the media, he nevertheless concedes “not having had Mandanda recently” on the telephone, proof that if the relationship between the two men is good and peaceful, the two former players from Évreux and Le Havre do not seem to be close friends.
With the signing of Brice Samba in Rennes, the film repeats itself. By simply reversing the roles of the protagonists. Almost twelve years to the day after the signing of Brice Samba for OM, on January 4, 2013, this time it is Steve Mandanda who risks finding himself number 2 goalkeeper. “He is a huge professional, who has always had responsibilities during his career, he will persevere,” assured a close friend of the 39-year-old goalkeeper to L’Équipe on December 29. When it comes to patience, Brice Samba, trained at a good school during his early career at OM, will always be able to give him some advice.
Felix Gabory Journalist RMC Sport
