Reunited with the OM squad since Sunday, Mathieu Valbuena, in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, looks at what he has achieved over the course of the last year.
It was one year ago, almost to the day. OM were on a pre-season training camp in Saint-Jean-de-Luz and Mathieu Valbuena suffered a barrage of questions. A departure was on the cards and his future at OM seemed to be very uncertain. A sparkling second half to the season and a double later, the charm of the Basque Country is the same but when we remind him of the parallels, Mathieu replies immediately. “It’s strange, I thought the same thing on Sunday, he confided in us at the Olympians hotel, I closed my eyes for ten seconds and said to myself that one year ago in the same place things were very different. In one year I have come a long way. I was on my way out but today I am still here”.
This is a turnaround that owes a great deal to his willpower. As has often been the case in his obstacle strewn career, he held on and believed he was doing things right: “I held on, it’s one of my strengths. I fought hard and achieved what I wanted. OM is a huge club, there is none better in France. So yes, I was right”.
"In one year I have come a long way. I was on my way out but today I am still here".
There is no question, however, of him sitting back on his laurels. Nothing has ever been easy for him, which gives him a great deal of experience. “I’m not going to stop there. I have still got a lot of room for progression, but football demands a great deal. You have to keep working hard, that is something that is shown in the fact that I am here today”.
A league title, the Coupe de la Ligue and a participation in the World Cup (see elsewhere), the last few months have been busy for him.
He was able to take a three week break and is projecting himself into the new season, “happy to be reunited with his team-mates”. “I am already raring to go, I want to put in a complete season on a personal level but also for the team, he states, there will be a lot of expectation surrounding us because of the double, our opponents and the public will be waiting for us”.
Even if he only got back with the squad on Sunday, a group just like the one he left in the middle of May (“the atmosphere is good and everyone is here to work, but we can still laugh and enjoy ourselves”), Mathieu knows that this is a time for hard work, even if he did keep himself in shape over the vacation with games of tennis and weight lifting. “Today was the firtst time I had to get up at 7h00 for a run” he says with a little smile before heading off for a well deserved siesta. He is back with his club and has a lot to do.
