VIDEO. Atypical career, already coached by Gasset and caught in a shootout: who is Bamo Meïté, new defender of MHSC ?

The 23-year-old Franco-Ivorian defender, who was accompanied by great hopes when he arrived in Marseille, will seek to relaunch himself in Montpellier, where he has been loaned until the end of the season by OM, this Monday, February 3.   

Revealed in Lorient without going through a training center

Born in Kani, in the northwest of the Ivory Coast, Bamo Meïté arrived at the age of 7 in metropolitan France, in the Paris region. Son of the first cousin of former Marseille player Abdoulaye Meïté, he grew up in Essonne and played in several clubs around the capital, without ever joining a training center.

A defensive midfielder turned defender, the 23-year-old Franco-Ivorian played for Créteil and ended up being spotted at Montfermeil by Laval, then in National, in 2019. Before making the big jump to FC Lorient in 2021, then in Ligue 1, and signing his first professional contract a year later.

“I have an atypical career path, it's my strength, I use it every day”, he explained during his presentation to OM, who had exchanged him in the summer of 2023 with Isaak Touré. The player, who describes himself as being fond of “impact” and “strong in duels”, had been presented as a “great potential” by Marseille president Pablo Longoria.

Gasset already had him under his command and wanted him

A stroke of luck in a career, Meïté, launched in L1 at Lorient by Régis Le Bris, had his first start in Marseille in the Europa League against Brighton of… Roberto De Zerbi, in December 2023. Having since arrived at the Vieux Port, the now Marseille coach has never given him his trust, only offering him three bits of matches (24 minutes) this season in August and September last.

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Before the Italian, Jean-Louis Gasset had, on the other hand, not hesitated to rely on the defender, when he arrived at OM in February 2024. The Héraultais had started him in particular for his first on the Marseille bench, against Shaktar Donetsk. “But Meïté never really had any luck in continuity”, describes an Olympian follower, evoking this ankle injury which cut the player in his tracks and deprived him of the adventure in C3, which ended in the semi-final.

Kept in Provence despite the procrastination of the leaders last summer, Meïté was complimented for his efforts and his behavior when autumn came. A character trait that had jumped out at Gasset who quickly made him a target upon his arrival at MHSC, at the end of October. To finally snatch this winter a young player with already well-established commitments. For several years, Meïté has been the founder and president of the association Soutien pour tous, which works in the social and ecological fields and has already carried out actions, notably in favor of an orphanage in Abidjan or via a futsal tournament and marauding in the Paris region.

Mistakenly caught in a shootout with two teammates

It all came together on the last day of the 2023-2024 season. While Jean-Louis Gasset's OM returned from Le Havre with a final victory (1-2), on the night of May 19, Jean Onana, Faris Moumbagna and Bamo Méïté were the targets of a shootout after leaving the Commanderie, the Marseille training center. Several months later, the investigation would highlight a… mistake by the robbers. At the sight of the players' big cars, themselves lost in a dead end by their GPS, the offenders would have felt threatened and would have fired an automatic pistol during a chase.

This episode would have logically marked Bamo Meïté, described as “not in his element” a few months later. Before his investment and return to form were highlighted by De Zerbi, without however playing him. Playing time that the Franco-Ivorian should benefit from in Montpellier, in order to get back on track.

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