“The story with Andy Delort could not end like it did a few years ago,” says president Laurent Nicollin

Entre le président Laurent Nicollin et l’attaquant Andy Delort, l’heure des retrouvailles a sonné. Midi Libre – JEAN-MICHEL MART

Andy Delort's return to Montpellier, announced on Wednesday, January 29, is the culmination of a slow reconciliation after a controversial departure to Nice in August 2021. Story in several stages.

A breakup happens in an instant, a reconciliation takes a lifetime. The reunion between Montpellier, and in particular its president Laurent Nicollin, and striker Andy Delort was a slow-maturing one. It required several stages as if both wanted to be sure of the outstretched hand.

Story of a rapprochement more than three and a half years after the transfer to Nice of the Algerian international (33 years old) experienced as a tear in Montpellier in view of the sacrifices made at the time to keep its captain, its center forward and its charismatic leader.

We took it badly, he took it badly, everyone took it badly. We are family.

“The story with Andy couldn't end like it did a few years ago. We took it badly, he took it badly, everyone took it badly. We are family. We argue sometimes, we make up and we move on. The goal is for the club to be in L1 on the last day”, hopes Laurent Nicollin, to wrap up the epilogue of a long saga.

First of all, the two men patched things up in a frank discussion: “We explained things a long time ago, then we spoke regularly on the phone”,poses as a prerequisite the Montpellier president to settle the bitterness of a separation and leave the field blank for a new chance.

Last spring, on Delort's premature return from Umm Salal (Qatar), the two men had lunch together in the company of the sporting director Bruno Carotti. “There was the will on his part and mine to get him back this summer. But we couldn't do it if there were no departures”, confided Nicollin. If the desire to meet again was mutual, the return of the Sète striker is hampered by the financial crisis of Montpellier, weighed down by the television rights and the absence of summer transfers.

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At the table of Gasset and Laurent Blanc

The festivities for the 50th anniversary of La Paillade at the Sud de France Arena on November 16th accelerate everything. This is when coach Jean-Louis Gasset, who is rather fond of players with strong characters, enters the round table. “With Jean-Louis, they met for the 50th anniversary, it was a very good match”, assures the Montpellier president.

In the pailladine fever of an evening, which brings to mind the prestige of the past, Delort and Gasset realized that they were compatible. And that each needed the other to get going again. One to get out of a deadlock, the other to emerge from the last place in Ligue 1.

“We don't know each other very well, because I've never worked with him, but we've been living in parallel for ten or fifteen years. We cross paths, we have mutual friends, and on the evening of our 50th birthday, he was at my table”, explains Jean-Louis Gasset. “He was emotional, he saw Laurent Blanc, there were great people around him. I felt a boy who loved this club. He had left it awkwardly. He wanted to help out. And, he ticked all the boxes”, assures Gasset, as convincing as he is convinced.

Set for the end of November

The reunion hypothesis is being acted upon. “I'm going to surprise you. By the end of November, beginning of December, we were already set for a possible return in January. The opportunity of Akor Adams and Arnaud Nordin's departure allows us, financially, to do it. There was what there was, you can't just erase it like that. He loves the club, he shows it there,” says Laurent Nicollin. Who specifies: “He is not the savior, but he will bring a state of mind that we share. He will be an essential relay for the coach. If he is mentally well, we have done 90% of the work.”

The man is a fighter, a leader, who brings people along and knows this locker room

In Montpellier, it's a story of men. Where bonds are made and unmade, then re-established almost indefinitely. It was true yesterday with “Loulou”, it's true today, with Jean-Louis Gasset as a go-between between these two periods, not so far apart. “I differentiate between the player and the man. The man is a fighter, a leader, who brings people along and knows this locker room. And, he can score the six, seven, eight goals that can help us complete the mission”.

Andy Delort must now settle an old debt. “Out of love for the club, and perhaps upset by the separation, he is making big financial efforts. He has very close friends in the locker room. It seems like he is grateful for what he has experienced here”, supports Gasset. Result of a reconciliation on May 17, in Nantes.

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