Training rather than recruiting, using both the French and foreign sources, is the bet that FC Metz made, several years before everyone else. At a time when many European clubs are opening branches all over the planet, to rake wide and attract the best elements as soon as possible (therefore at low cost), the Messins were among the first to embark on the adventure with Génération Foot, in Senegal, in 1999. The objective is simple: to finance the training of young players, and then bring the best directly to France. A sort of bis training center, which allows to exploit a vein hitherto shunned: African talents. Last year, Mady Touré, creator of the academy, remade the story for France TV sport "The story is simple: a Monaco-Metz match, Moussa Ndiaye (Senegalese player from Monaco) had a great match. I went to see Joël Muller (coach of Metz) who had the modesty to listen to me. It allowed me to be in Metz. I did all the legwork. When I presented the project in Metz, I told them 'I have the product, you have the money, it's an exchange'. President Molinari did not hesitate to validate. "Since 2003, around thirty players have landed in the Moselle club, and if all do not succeed, some examples are there to remind that the partnership is nonetheless very effective. The most glaring example is that of Sadio Mané, fourth in the 2019 Ballon d'Or and European champion with Liverpool, who went through Generation Foot before a season in Metz between 2011 and 2012 and then signed in Salzburg in Austria. This season, the two attackers Ibrahima Niane and Habib Diallo (12 goals this season in Ligue 1 with FC Metz, of which he is also the captain, 6th best scorer in front of Mauro Icardi and Islam Slimani for example) are there to remind that the Senegalese industry still works as well, even today. The latter was also quite courted during the winter transfer window.
Lyon follows suit and expands on all continents
And if FC Metz was a precursor, Olympique Lyonnais, renowned for its training center, ended up following in the Grenats. In November 2015, OL had thus announced a partnership with the Dakar Sacré-Coeur club with the same double objective as the Messins: sports and societal. An idea born in part from the success on French soil of certain African players, like the Cameroonian winger Clinton N'Jie who had good performances at the time in the Lyon jersey. Last December, the club of Jean-Michel Aulas also established links with the Mohammed VI academy in Morocco.
If in general this strategy of the Lyon club is still too recent to see real results, and if the OL maneuvers seem at least as much linked to a sporting will as to a desire to internationalize the OL brand, there is no 'The fact remains that the Rhone club is more and more interested in what is happening outside the continent. It also has strong partnerships in Brazil, with the Pelé Academy, and in South Korea thanks in particular to its main sponsor, the car brand Hyundai, but also in China, Lebanon and Vietnam.
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