Returning to his training club in 2019, Savanier has since played more than 150 matches and scored more than 40 goals. Midi Libre – JEAN-MICHEL MART
Trained at La Paillade but forced into exile, the midfielder of gypsy origin has never left his city of Gély and his town. To return to play there and become its captain despite a very complicated current season.
Our 84-page special issue
Condensing half a century of history into 84 pages. This is the challenge taken up by the sports editorial team at Midi Libre in this special issue on the 50th anniversary of the MHSC. Available on newsstands on December 11 for just €5, this glossy magazine will take you back to the great moments in the history of the Montpellier club through our “50” who made the MHSC.
Players, coaches and builders, of course, starting with this “Nicollin Saga”, told by Laurent and Colette, the wife of the late Loulou. A special edition full of anecdotes and unpublished photos with an exclusive interview with Olivier Giroud.
A special issue of 84 pages midi libre
“Nothing is impossible, you just have to believe in it.”On his shin, the right one, of this leg with which he can make light shine, Téji Savanier has engraved his story. A mantra, a moral for a fable of a football of yesteryear, when players saw themselves as defenders of their “home”. That of Savanier, a gypsy from the Gély estate, could only be written there, in his city, in Montpellier, his stadium, La Mosson. Before becoming the captain whose vision is admired and whose many outbursts and red cards are forgiven, the midfielder abandoned the royal road for the back roads.
He could have been lost in the mass of wasted talents, cursed or misunderstood artists of the round ball who came up against a bone that was too big. His was the 1990 generation, that of Younès Belhanda, Rémy Cabella, Jonas Martin, Benjamin Stambouli, Abdelhamid El Kaoutari and so many others, winners of a 2009 Gambardella Cup that Savanier, a year younger, finished as a substitute.
“As soon as they were 12-13 years old, Serge Delmas always said: “I have a generation, they are the Galactics, the Galactics!” He really pissed us off with that, Laurent Nicollin snorts. We must have signed about ten professionals. Téji, he probably had to go through the starting block to train. He certainly wasn't ready, not mature like Younès or Rémy could be. But the main thing is that he was able to break through. And maybe leaving us allowed him to force his destiny. “
Forced departure and explosion
When his partners signed the long-awaited pro contract, he was offered a year as an amateur. “I asked myself the question if I was going to stop playing football, he told Midi Libre in 2019. I didn't see myself going far. It was very complicated. But in life, you should never give up, try to bounce back elsewhere, which is what I did.”
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000He had to grit his teeth and take the blows in Ligue 2. In Arles-Avignon, where he was not aware of the sacrifices but was not always helped, and especially in Nîmes, he ended up asserting himself. In the Gard, under the leadership of Bernard Blaquart, Téji became Savanier.
Read also: 50 years of the MHSC: Marion Torrent and Montpellier Hérault…, "it's my second home!"
Repositioned as a relay player, reframed in his hygiene, the midfielder with the velvet paw in a pig's character is shedding his skin. Best passer in L2 then L1, he brings the genie out of his lamp. Surgical on set pieces, “street player” Michel Der Zakarian would later say to describe this pure talent and this science of imbalance, he attracted his training club, which broke its piggy bank: €9 million + 1 in bonuses, a record that still stands at MHSC.
“The mistake we may have made is that the year he went back to L1 with Nîmes, he had not extended and was a free agent. It might have cost me less but some people said that we had to see, wait”, rewinds Nicollin, who “went to the maximum of what he could” to repatriate Savanier in 2019, to the great displeasure of big clubs (AC Milan, FC Seville) and especially of the Crocos supporters.
Nicollin: “He came back through the front door”
A great catch, in line with the history between the two clubs, for a player who had never really left Montpellier. Because Téji couldn't leave Cité Gély, where he still lives, drawn like a magnet to its cocoon where a fresco in his image reigns. “This is where I feel best. After the matches, I prefer that we all meet here together rather than in a big villa all alone, he explained to Prime Video. When I arrive here, I'm no longer the footballer Téji, I'm the neighborhood kid Téji who goes to play pétanque with his friends and cousins. These are little things that make me feel good when I'm not playing football.”
Also read: 50 years of MHSC: “Loulou got me in my feelings”, the memories of Olivier Giroud, the great architect of the 2012 championship title
They probably remind him of the time when, as a kid, he would follow in the footsteps of his father, a security guard at La Mosson on match nights, and drool over “Paulo Sergio, Maoulida, Mahouvé. I still have the photos at home. Now, it's my turn to play on this field…”
“Let's say that he left through the back door of the training center, but he came back through the front door. It's all to his honor”, appreciates Laurent Nicollin, who had associated him with his football and camping buddy, Andy Delort. Until the Sète native left with a bang to Nice. Leaving him the armband during his last match and a path to trace, where he feels too good, at home. “It was my dream, I succeeded in my shot”, smiled Savanier. Who has not stopped believing in it.
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