Mavinga, the left man for the job?

Since the middle of May, Stade Rennes have been openly looking for a left back. After the departure of Samuel Souprayen to Dijon, the Rennes defneive line was left without a left-footed player, and the use of right-footed player on the position (as last season with Théophile-Catherine and Jebbour, and the previous season with Danzé) doesn’t seem to be a sustainable solution on the long term.

Mavinga, the opposite of Morel?

After Lorient’s Jérémy Morel bailed on them at the last minute, the Stade Rennais recruiters were forced to return to work, while the arrival of the Breton defended could have allowed the club to wrap the case quickly for a relatively low cost.
A month later, Chris Mavinga will therefore fill the gap, with a signature scheduled for this Tuesday. The experience of Morel, 27 years old and five Ligue 1 seasons to his name, is obviously a contrast with the youth of Mavinga (20 y/o). By the look of things, the players’ profiles are equally as different. There is hardly any similarity between Morel, a former forward repositioned in defence and always keen to join the attack, and Mavinga, presented as a versatile defender, able to play at centre back or on the left flank.

However, the stereotype of a central defender pushed on a wing seems pretty unfair in Mavinga’s situation. First trained as a left back, he was repositioned in the centre during his training at PSG (2006-2009). Quite light physically, Mavinga continued to express the qualities of a “defender who organises the clearance”, as he likes to say at the centre of defence, the qualities of a player with “good qualities of speed”, who “likes fine play”, but also “likes tackling and get stuck in challenges.
Hired by Liverpool in 2009, at the term of his aspirant contract with Paris, Mavinga exiled very early (some would say too early) to England. For a year and a half, he would play with the Reds’ Reserve while remaining one of the key players in his age category’s France national team. In July 2010, he won the U19 Euro alongside Abdoulaye Diallo. With Lyon’s Kolodziejczak occupying the left-back position, Mavinga started every game of the competition in central defence.

Return to the left side

Without having ever played for the first team in Liverpool, he was loaned to Genk (Belgium) last January. Initially on the bench, Mavinga managed to earn a starting eleven position by the end of the season and took part actively in his team’s Belgium champion title. With the club from Limburg, he returned to the left flank and made his mark there. The “re-adaptation” satisfied Mavinga, who know explains he likes the position and would like to remain there.

Beside the national title, the other highlight of his spell in Belgium was a nasty incident he caused involuntarily. On May 17th, during a game against Standard de Liège, Mavinga completely miscued a defensive clearance by missing the ball and kicking striker Mehdi Carcela right in the face (the forward suffered several facial fractures and broken teeth). A gesture as involuntary as it was spectacular and dangerous, but which didn’t stop the Genk management in their bid to try and keep their young defender. On July 6th, the Belgian club announced triumphantly that they had reached an accord with Liverpool regarding his transfer. It was all up to the player’s decision… and he finally chose to return to France.

In Rennes, while the arrival of Morel would have meant a complete reshuffle of the situation for the full-back positions (competition between Danzé and Théophile-Catherine at right back?), Mavinga’s doesn’t announce such a heavy reconsideration of the existing hierarchy.

A place to take

With his status and his experience, the newcomer might not be in a position to immediately require a starting position, and he will probably have to battle with “KTC” if he wants to become an essential part of Frédéric Antonetti’s tactics. However, if a real competition is on, it won’t be before the month of August, since Mavinga will be absent until then, involved in the U20 World Cup. Until the definitive arrival of the young defender in Brittany, the Rennes backline will continue with the same players as last year, except Souprayen. Antonetti is already trying to cover for this situation, since centre back Pape Malick Kandji and right back Dimitri Foulquier were involved in the first two pre-season friendlies.

The Rennes manager, who had expressed his wishes for the arrival of a « left footed defenders » (a term he preferred to « left back » as soon as last May), will be offered a new solution with the arrival of Chris Mavinga. In the Rennes defensive line, many players are able to play either at centre or on a flank, or even to cover for a wing which isn’t theirs. This versatility will be reinforced with the arrival of the former Parisian, even though he might not be more than a fourth, or even a fifth choice at centre back.
It remains that the profile and experience of Mavinga have got nothing to do with what was initially expected. With the lost opportunity on Morel, after the trail of Dabo and Ilunga were abandoned for various reasons, the Rennes recruiters decided to bet on yet another high potential youngster. It’s now up to Mavinga to seize the opportunity and impose himself in Ligue 1, just as Kana-Biyik managed to do last season.

- Photo : fff.fr