The Christmas period is often a time for great stories. Beyond the qualification and Jonathan Ikoné’s hat-trick on Saturday at Raon-l’Étape (3-0), we witnessed real emotion from Paris FC. That of Lamine Gueye who replayed in an official match two years and more than three months after his last appearance.
It was September 2, 2023 during a Ligue 2 match in Angers. Against the Vosges R1 team, the 27-year-old Senegalese striker entered in the 68th minute in place of Mathieu Cafaro. For him, it was 26 minutes of happiness. Gueye was even behind Paris FC’s 2nd goal, his shot being deflected by Ikoné (79th). We also saw him make a good cross for the head of young Mohamed Dao (90th + 2).
Seeing him again on a football field is almost a miracle. Injured in one knee, he suffered a series of periods of rehabilitation and relapses. Half-heartedly, at the Orly training center, he was considered “almost lost for football”. When we met him, between two stays in rehabilitation centers, he always had a smile and replied “I’m hanging in there”.
This injury is as if a curse pursued him as soon as he wore the Paris FC jersey. His history with the Parisian club had in fact already known two upset episodes.
Contract not approved in 2020, ankle operation in 2022
In October 2020, he was loaned by Metz. After posing for the traditional presentation photo and doing some training at Orly, the Senegalese had to return to Moselle. His contract had not been approved by the LFP for administrative reasons. The two clubs had in fact learned that FC Metz did not have the right to loan a foreign player twice in a row to a French club. Back in Metz, Gueye then shone in Ligue 1 (40 matches, 3 goals, 7 assists).
But in January 2022, he was loaned again to Paris FC. After a promising start (2 goals in 4 matches), he was injured when he fell badly after scoring a goal against Sochaux. His season ended in March after ankle ligament surgery.
Returning once again to Metz, this time he was transferred to Paris FC in the summer of 2023 for three years, destined to play an important role in the team. But his third Parisian adventure once again turned into a nightmare. He was injured in the knee in the first match of the 2023-2024 season against Caen before relapsing in Angers in September 2023.
At the end of last season, he returned to the group and was on the bench during the match against Martigues on May 2. “It was long and complicated,” he explained this summer. You have to be mentally strong and I am. It helped me come back. The club never gave up on me. He always supported and helped me on a daily basis. »
“I’m very happy to have brought him in”
If the Senegalese right winger trains with the group, he logically lacks rhythm and just played a match with the reserve (R1) in a hopeful challenge. It was therefore in a rural stadium in the Vosges that he resumed his career.
Faced with a cascade of absentees (CAN and injured), Stéphane Gilli called him up for this 32nd final of the Coupe de France. “It was good in a match like that to give him playing time again, it had been almost 2 and a half years since he had played so it’s not easy for him,” explains the Paris FC coach. It’s always nice to see him return to the field. I hope it will do his morale good and that he will be able to play football again. I’m very happy for him to have brought him in. I don’t know if it will be with us, but he has to play, because it’s his passion. »
His future at Paris FC remains in doubt. It may be complicated for him to get playing time in Ligue 1 after the break. Six months from the end of his contract, a loan would therefore be under consideration.
