“Junior is the only boy of Sandrine and I’s children. I had a duty for him to succeed,” says Eli Kroupi, former FC Lorient striker. The train is off to a good start: Eli Junior, who everyone calls Junior, sets records for precociousness: youngest FC Lorient player to play in Ligue 1, youngest scorer for FC Lorient in Ligue 1, youngest scorer a double in the history of Ligue 1… “Since he was little, he has been upgraded in all age categories. Everyone was talking about Junior! But above all, he remains our son, our child.”
“At home, he spends his time playing football, with his ball or on his Playstation… Emptying the dishwasher, for example, is not his thing. But hey, he does it anyway”
A well-loved son… who repays them well. Even if he doesn't necessarily participate much in household chores. “He doesn’t like it,” says his mother Sandrine. At home, he spends his time playing football, with his ball or on his Playstation. But he does it anyway because he has no choice. You have to give a helping hand and it will come in handy later. Emptying the dishwasher, for example, is not his thing. But hey, he does it anyway. His bed too…” But little more!
This does not prevent his mother from being proud of the education they gave him. “Ultimately, Junior is a teenager a bit like the others, except that he scores goals. He is kind, smiling, funny,” says a mother who seems overwhelmed by the development of her offspring. Even when Junior is called upon in his daily life outside of football.
“He sometimes has people – a lot of young people his age – who come to see him when we are in town or out shopping. It doesn't bother us. We find it beautiful.” For the Kroupi family, the only moment of weekly tension is at competition time. “I always have a knot in my stomach when I go to the match to see my son. It's really hard. But, as soon as my husband saw him touch the ball and Junior seemed to feel good, the feeling in his stomach disappeared. »
“We sing, we dance, we also play. He likes to play basketball, and fight too”
“In fact, when we see him smiling, thriving on the pitch, we say to ourselves: it’s good, he’s in good shape, he’s going to score,” Yellana and her mother add in unison. The little sister (Junior also has two 26-year-old older sisters, Coralie and Epiphanie) is very complicit. “We sing, we dance, we also play. He likes basketball, fighting too, boxing and above all spending time with his friends, his family, his loved ones. He's strict about certain things, but he's a big brother, that's normal. In any case, he is full of love. »
“Last year when he was a substitute in the second half of the season, he cried because he felt like something was being taken away from him”
A “modern striker” trained by Le Lan, Genton, Pinson Kerangouarec, Ebondo…
But a ball is never very far away. “And Junior, if he's not on a football field… Last year when he was a substitute in the second half of the season, he was crying because he had the impression that something was being taken away from him », recalls the father who sees in his son, “a modern, complete attacker. He just has his head game to work on given his super relaxation that we noticed late. And of course, he still needs to develop physically… He's a ball player, a bit like Enzo (Le Fée), a pure product of the Lorient training. And, if today we can say that Junior can play in midfield, on the left, in all positions of the attack, he owes it to his educators Arnaud Le Lan, Benjamin Genton, Philippe Pinson, Alexis Kerangouarec, Ruddy Ebondo, who is now in Monaco… Without forgetting Régis (Le Bris), who launched him in Ligue 1.”
“We have put in place a whole range of support around him, with a cook who prepares suitable dishes for him, an agent (Fabrice Picot) of course but also a communications manager, to allow him to breathe a little on certain things”
“We have put in place a whole range of support around him”
Papa Kroupi, who never misses a training session of his son, never stops protecting his prodigy son. “There are all the little traps of the football world. Junior is not prepared for this. We have put in place a whole range of support around him, with a cook who prepares suitable dishes for him, an agent (Fabrice Picot) of course but also a communications manager, to allow him to breathe a little on certain things” . And perhaps to prepare for an upcoming departure.
Can he still extend with FC Lorient? “He is under contract until 2026. The priority for Junior is to do everything so that FCL returns to Ligue 1. Afterwards, we will see what happens at the end of the season. But, if Junior has to stay, he will stay. Whatever happens, he will never leave FC Lorient behind. It was FC Lorient who did it! It’s up to him to write his story…”
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