the essential
TFC's oldest player, Joshua King, who spent most of his career in England, is the captain in a very young locker room. But at 33, the Norwegian striker says he continues to learn a lot from his young teammates.
At 33, Joshua King is enjoying a second youth in Toulouse. After two years wasted by injuries at Fenerbahçe, the Norwegian striker has already played as many matches in Ligue 1 as in each of the seasons he spent in Turkey (16). “It was very frustrating, this experience didn't go as planned at all. I needed to see something new,” explains the Oslo native, whose signing for TFC, in the final moments of the transfer window last summer, surprised many observers. Mainly because since the arrival of RedBird in 2020, the club chaired by Damien Comolli has made age one of its recruitment criteria, rarely hiring players over 25 years old. Faced with the drop in TV rights, the Toulouse recruitment unit was forced to lower certain ambitions and jumped at the opportunity. King, who was looking to relaunch himself and agreed to lower his salary to sign.
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The arrival of the Norwegian also responds to a request from Carles Martinez Novell, who was looking to strengthen his team with more capped players. “I had discussed it with the president. Last year, we had a very young group, and I thought that having a few older players, who could bring their experience, would be beneficial.” Based on this principle, the TFC therefore hired Djibril Sidibé (32 years old) and Joshua King, who had asked to exchange with the Catalan coach before his signing, and is currently the oldest player in the professional squad.
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However, and despite a career played mainly in the Premier League, which took him from Manchester United, where he completed his training and began his professional career, to Watford via Bournemouth and Everton, Joshua King says he continues to learn every day. “Already, you have to learn to know your teammates. Playing with Yann (Gboho) or Zakaria (Aboukhlal), for example, is very different than playing with Dusan Tadic, with whom I played at Fenerbahçe.”
-“Every day he comes first”
At 33, the Norwegian international (62 caps, 20 goals), who says he was surprised by the difficulty of the French championship (“it's a very physical championship, with good defenders, where the big chances to score are rare”) must also adapt his style of play: “I no longer run as fast as I did a few years ago… So on the pitch, I have to think more to find solutions.”
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To remain efficient, and far from the infirmary, the man who has scored 4 goals in Ligue 1 and has been a regular starter since the 7th day, also shows great “professionalism” according to his coach. “That's the word that comes to me when I think of Joshua. Every day, he arrives first, he works in the gym, with the physiotherapists, after training he asks to do additional exercises in front of the goal… It's is an important thing, it shows the way, how professional you have to be, what you have to put in place, how important the details are.”
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A leadership role that the Norwegian assumes almost in spite of himself in the squad. “I try to help young people if I feel they need it. Especially during training. I'm not the type of player who goes shouting in the locker room before or after a match. That's never happened. been my personality. But I try to do my best, and they help me grow too.” There is no age limit.
