Already because it is not always easy, at the age of 14-15, to leave the family cocoon in the Paris region for the ASNL training center. “At first it was hard because our training center was in a forest and I wondered a little what I was doing there! Gradually, I adapted and I think I spent the best years of my life there so far, ”confirms the Pau striker.
A few years later, it was in this training club that he took his first professional steps, launched by a certain Didier Tholot. Mons Bassouamina, however, will have to chew the brakes for a long period between a disinsertion of the hamstring and a new coach who does not really count on him: “Here again, these two years were difficult but allowed me to become the person and the player I am today. It made me grow. »
It meets expectations
Almost two years without playing and a rebound, last season in National under the colors of Bastia-Borgo, with quality performances on a personal level (nine goals and six assists). Something to catch the eye of Didier Tholot, at the head of a Pau FC still looking for bets with regard to recruitment and who decides to contact her at the end of the season: “I knew her qualities and if I launched in Nancy is that there are reasons. The fact that I was there was probably decisive in his choice because he is someone who does not forget that I gave him a chance in Nancy. Today, it fully meets my expectations. »
A feeling shared by number 11 from Bearn: “Whether he called me, clearly it counted because it was he who launched me as a pro and I knew he was someone I trusted. He told me what he was looking for as a profile, what he expected from me and it matched directly. »
Defects to be corrected
The choice is therefore quickly made and Mons Bassouamina arrives in Béarn to find a Ligue 2 briefly crossed in Lorraine. Here again, his physique will play tricks on him when he starts the season and the Pau striker assumes some of the responsibility: “When I arrived, we knew little about each other with the members of the club and at first glance I seemed a bit cold and introverted, I like to stay in my corner. I had some pain but I didn’t want to say it, because I had just arrived and also for fear of being somewhat categorized as a guy who is always injured, a bit of the label that had been stuck on me at Nancy. So, I played like that and it farted. Then, we started on a relationship of trust with the staff and everything is better today. »
So that Bassouamina settled in Didier Tholot’s 11 as an essential. If the Pau coach believes “he still has faults to correct”, Mons Bassouamina is the most decisive Pau striker this season. He had also been in the first leg in Annecy by putting Pau FC on the right track with a goal in the 20th minute of play. A scenario he would like to replay tonight: “That’s the goal. It’s important to us to get a good result because it’s been a while since we won the league and obviously I hope to be decisive with a goal or an assist. »
