Elected National’s best player, selected in the standard team of the season, Fahd El Khoumisti (28) is also at the top of the scorers’ rankings with 19 pawns. A perfect season on an individual level for the Concarneau striker, who has been on fire since his arrival at the Thoniers in January 2021. This Friday evening on the Red Star lawn, the National’s Benzema will play his last match in the colors of the Breton club. , before going to see above. Interview with a former center forward from the PSG reserve whose confidence has never been shaken.
Interview by Habib Bensetti and Loïc Bessière
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It’s a huge pride, it’s very rewarding. I had dreams, goals, and reaching this one shows that I can still pursue the next ones. It also proves that anything is possible. If we look, a year and a half ago, I was not playing in a National club. I wasn’t playing at all, I was in the basement. I am happy to have continued to believe in myself, even if it is not at all an end. It just pushes me to fight harder.
Why do you think this award came to you?
It’s a lot of work. To have a great season, several parameters have to be aligned: a very good coach, a good team, good teammates, a good atmosphere… You also have to be good in your mind, have a certain balance on the pitch and outside. During this season, everything came together. The coach (Stephane Le Mignan) He has a lot to do with it too, he understood everything in the team, we have a similar vision of football. Being a ball player, I like to pick up a lot, and he gave me this freedom, that of feeling the game. It’s nice to have a coach who plays. I went to clubs where it was the ball in the air, duels, all that, aerial struggles to exist…
Author of an incredible season, Fahd is rewarded with this title pic.twitter.com/znMHK9DMAp
— US Concarneau (@USConcarneau) May 8, 2022
Despite this good season, Concarneau will finish in 4and championship spot. You are out of contract. How do you see the future?
It’s going to be complicated to stay, because I’m very ambitious, that’s all I can tell you. I want to savor to the end these last moments with Concarneau. I want to live in the present moment, because we don’t know what can happen, and I move forward better that way. In any case, I want to stay in France.
“It’s going to be complicated to stay in Concarneau, because I’m very ambitious, that’s all I can tell you. But I want to stay in France. »
In November, you mentioned to our colleagues from the Telegram an objective of goals to be achieved. Did you reach it?
It has not yet been reached, but it could be on Friday, yes, in this last match at Red Star. But I know that you shouldn’t force yourself to absolutely want to score. First of all, I will try to play a very good game. If I try to force it, I know for a fact that it won’t fit.
Last price of the evening #TrophéesDuNational, that of the! Here is the elected Congratulations to all the players for this season pic.twitter.com/u9IKSUsW2A
— National Championship (@NationalFFF) May 8, 2022
What relationship do you have with your teammates?
They are super happy! They congratulated me, but I told them that this trophy was ours, not just mine. I can’t shine on my own. This trophy, it could have gone to someone else in the team. But the striker takes all the glory, because he’s there to put them down.
You have played all Concarneau’s matches as a starter this season. How do you feel ?
Very well ! Our sessions are based on technique, so there is no fatigue. We do not run to run, there is only pleasure. Effort management, recovery time, everything is calculated with this trainer. It’s more mental fatigue.
What’s your secret to never getting hurt?
I am extremely careful about everything. I really take care of my diet, I try to sleep as well as possible. For two years, I have eaten healthily and I have never felt better. When you eat well and sleep well, you’re connected, you’re quick-witted, and you can have fewer injuries. I try to put everything on my side to become the best player possible.
You had a low period during the season, which incidentally coincided with a series of bad results for Concarneau. Can you explain it to us?
There was mental fatigue, we must not forget that Concarneau is not used to playing at the top of the table. It was still new for the club. The expectation has changed around us. We started to believe that we were going to do it. The more the matches passed, the more our performances were successful, we had content. This euphoria to assimilate must have cost us this poor form during the final sprint. Despite this end of the season, we learned, and it will serve us all for later.
“Stéphane Le Mignan recruited me when I was forgotten. When no one was looking at me, he called me. My stats weren’t crazy, it shows he was watching the way I played. I owe him a lot. »
And on a personal level, over the course of the season, have you felt more expected by the defenders?
Oh yes ! I really felt it, the defenders were more attentive, I was given less space.
You talk a lot about Stéphane Le Mignan, the coach who gave you back your confidence. Can you tell us about your relationship?
In fact, I never lost my self-confidence. In Orléans, I couldn’t show my qualities, quite simply because I wasn’t playing. With Le Mignan, we find ourselves in football, we speak the same language. I greatly appreciate the man, but he is also a hard worker, to the point on the qualities and faults of our opponents. He has the ability to prepare us well before the meetings. He also taught me a lot tactically. I have enormous respect for him. He recruited me when I was in oblivion. When no one was looking at me, he called me. My statistics were not crazy, it shows that he looked at the content of my performances, my way of playing. I owe him a lot.
At the start of the season, did you think that having such a good season was possible?
Beyond that, when I decided to go to Concarneau from Orléans, the first question I asked myself was: « Why didn’t I come sooner? » » I felt the potential of the team from the start of the season, I told the young people that we were going to go up. We didn’t go up, but I firmly believed in the ability of the group to achieve such a great season. We gave a lot of emotions to people and to our family. That’s the goal of football: to see a good game and experience strong emotions.
What are the differences between the Fahd El Khoumisti who tried his luck in Orleans three years ago and the one you are today?
I found much more professionalism in Concarneau than in Orleans. I respect the club, but it was the coaches that I didn’t find nice. I was not playing, you will tell me. It’s not a piece of paper that makes you a professional club, it’s the attitude, a way of being and seeing football. I always felt ready to go higher, but now is the perfect time. I’ve always had confidence in myself, but now I have more confidence than ever.
The clever head of Fahd El Khoumisti for US Concarneau! Follow the match live on https://t.co/nqxOy8UwzX#NationalFFF pic.twitter.com/PTd1nXhOAB
— National Championship (@NationalFFF) April 22, 2022
Can this status as the best player in the National put more pressure on you for the rest of your career?
I will take it the same way as when I was neglected in Orleans. I will stay me, I will stay Fahd El Khoumisti. It’s very rewarding, but when I was at PSG, they called me the « Cavani of the reserve » . There, this season, I have the label of “Benzema of the National”. It makes me really happy, but I don’t put any pressure on myself.
“The Concarnois supporters gave me a magnificent song. They are the best. »
Who trains the Concarneau supporters at the end of the night?
(He is laughing.) The Concarnois supporters gave me a magnificent song. They are the best ! (He starts to sing.) “He drags me to the end of the night. Who that, who that? Fahd El Khoumisti! “When I play at home, it’s one of my favorite things. When I scored or did a good deed, they sang it. It’s beautiful anyway, frankly!
Interview by Habib Bensetti and Loïc Bessière
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