Former Players: Pouplin, end of the adventure

After three seasons with Freiburg, Simon Pouplin is now looking for a new challenge. Although he was eager to continue the adventure with his German team, his employer announced him that his contract, expiring this month, wouldn’t be extended for the 2010-2011 season.
A difficult final year for the man from Cholet, in which he lost his position as the club’s first choice goalkeeper in favour of one of the country’s best goalkeepers, Olivier Baumann (U21 German international), partly because of a recurring right ankle injuries, which forced him to undergo surgery twice in three months last season (October 2010 and January 2011).

Having gone over the disappointment, the former Stade Rennais goalkeeper is now looking towards the future, starting with a strong physical preparation in Capbreton, where he will aim to come back to his best condition. “I train normally and physically, I feel 98% fit. I hope I will be completely ready by July 25th, and I would really like to continue in the Bundesliga”, he declared to francefootball.fr.
Having left Rennes in 2008, five years after he won the Gambardella Cup at the club (At the time, he was the substitute to Florent Chaigneau, Pouplin had made the most of the injuries and poor performances of Andreas Isaksson to gain some experience with Stade Rennes’ professional team during the 2005-2006 season. His appearances earned him a position as the first choice goalkeeper the following year, before he lost the position to the benefit of Patrice Luzi in 2007-2008. In June 2008, the recruitment of Nicolas Douchez put an end to his time with his training club.