the essential
The native of Lourdes is back on his training grounds. Sam Sanna (25 years old) is now enjoying the good days of Laval (Ligue 2) after having trained and discovered the high level with the TFC (between 2012 and 2022). On Wednesday January 15, he will set foot on the Stadium lawn again, two and a half years after leaving the club of his childhood.
What was your first reaction at the time of the draw?
Honestly, I was very happy. I waited for that every time, even last year when we could win a Ligue 1. It’s true that I couldn’t wait to be able to come back to the Stadium one day because you still need a bit of luck with the Cup. This time it’s done so I’m very happy.
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What does it mean to you to push back the grass of your beginnings?
(He thinks) I don’t know… I’m especially happy to come back and play in front of the family etc. I was lucky enough to know the Stadium and it’s good to come back. Today, TFC has taken on another dimension, and so have the supporters… I’m really happy to see the way it has evolved. To come back and feel a little bit of all that, it’s cool.
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How did your departure from TFC go?
The year we moved up to L1, I didn’t play much. I was a bit of an understudy on the right side of Mikkel Desler. I had asked once or twice to go on loan because I wasn’t really thriving in that position and I knew I wasn’t going to get a lot of playing time. But that didn’t happen because the club counted on me as an understudy. When we set up the club inevitably moved into another dimension. I knew I wasn’t going to play, the coach was still Philippe Montanier. A very good coach but I was used in a position that was not mine so the club and I decided to go on loan. This happened with Laval where I had the opportunity to play in the middle. At that time (in 2022) the season was going pretty well except that I had an injury at the start of the season, a knee injury which slowed me down a little but I came back well. At the end of the season I then had to have surgery for pubalgia, which meant that this year on loan was mixed. When I played it was going well but these two injuries slowed me down. At the same time, Tef won the Coupe de France and had a very good season in Ligue 1. They moved on to the European Cup and I was no longer part of the plans. So I decided to leave permanently.
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Do you regret not having had your chance in L1 when they were coming up or not at all?
No, I am very happy to have been able to join Laval. It’s a club where I thrive. Of course it’s in Ligue 2 but even the move up to L1 with TFC, I had a strange feeling because I was very happy for the club to have been able to win but when you don’t participate fully by playing and all that, it’s not is not the same. Returning to Ligue 2 knowing that in Ligue 1 I wasn’t going to play, it didn’t piss me off at all or anything.
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Today, are you fully fulfilled at Tangos?
I can fully express myself with my qualities, I find the position in which I am really comfortable and happy to play. We have a great group, a great club so I’m really happy.
How do you explain that during your transition to pro at TFC you were repositioned as right back?
I think it’s a combination of circumstances. There was a shortage of full-backs already the previous year in reserve where I had played as a piston. And Garande tells me when we were playing with five behind because it seems to me that Steven Moreira had Covid at the start of the season. I had a good match in Grenoble I remember and I did things coherent enough to be an understudy. It happened like that and for the club, it was easier to leave me there than to go and find someone else.
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Today, the squad has changed enormously compared to the TFC that you knew until 2022… Do you still know anyone within the club?
I only know three guys. Guillaume Restes, Denis Genreau and Rasmus Nicolaisen. But I don’t have any more contact than that. I went to see the Coupe de France final in 2023 but not since. On the staff, however, I still know a few people. There is in particular Guillaume Ravé, the physical trainer. He’s a guy from Laval by the way. When I signed we called each other, I think he’s happy to be back in Laval too. Then there is also the physiotherapist, the nutritionist, Aurélien the video analyst…. There’s still a little left.
