ML2 interview – Victor Lobry looking for a club: “I want to use this period to progress, not to maintain myself”

With 143 appearances in Ligue 2 over the last four seasons, Victor Lobry is one of the championship's essentials. However, the versatile midfielder who played for Pau, Saint-Étienne and most recently Guingamp remained without a club last summer. At a pivotal moment in his career, the 29-year-old is determined to waste as little time as possible while waiting for a new challenge.

Photo ©Loic Baratoux/FEP/Icon Sport

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MyLigue2 : Hello Victor, this period of inactivity is unusual for you, how are you managing solo training?

Victor Lobry : That was the big challenge, once the season started and I wasn't at the club. Throughout the summer, a former fitness trainer I had in Ligue 2 was kind enough to give me the entire program of what he did at his club. I followed the pattern stupidly but effectively, I did everything as if I were at a club, with a big session to replace the days of friendly matches. Once the championship started again and I saw that I wasn't going to find what I wanted, I told myself that I had to use this time to accumulate physical load and progress as much as possible. . This is why I chose not to train in a club, even if I could have. I didn't want it to be maintenance. In a club, there are match deadlines, they cannot work hard all week. Monday is back, it's quiet. The day before and the day before the match, it's not very violent. Out of five sessions there are two strong ones and one “in between”. I train six times a week to develop myself physically as much as possible […] I set up a gym at home, I approached three physical preparations so that my program was really coherent without having a single vision. I contacted a nutritionist to get fit and I started mental preparation. In a club, we have all that at our disposal. There, I had to go look for him. It's not the dream situation but I'm trying to come out of it better.

Between Pau and Saint-Étienne, I arrived free, ten days before the resumption of the championship but I had trained alone in the meantime. So, I was ready and I played directly as a starter. That's why this time too, I want to be ready when I arrive at my new club.

ML2 : And you still touch the ball?

VL : Yes, yes, I train from 9:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. My training session is divided into two, the first part without a ball and the second part before an hour in the weight room.

ML2: Your half-season stint at Guingamp was rather successful (18 matches, 14 starts), why didn't that continue this summer?

VL : It's a shame ! When I landed in Guingamp, I was really happy. If the choice of last January had to be made again, I would do the same. I'm playing, I'm performing well, it's perhaps my most consistent six months of my career in Ligue 2. The negotiations begin, we almost reach the end, we almost all agree and then there's the history of TV rights. The club tells me that the proposal is no longer on the agenda: the budgets are no longer the same.

ML2 : Has this economic context complicated the search for a club?