If Stade Brestois is near the top in Ligue 1, it owes it in part to its striker Steve Mounié who reigns in the air with his header, when traveling to Lyon on Sunday for the 29th day.
Scorer, with a header obviously, in the first leg for a victory (1-0) during the 6th day, which had propelled the Finistériens to the top of the elite, Mounié hit the mark again, always with a shot of his helmet against Metz (4-3) last Sunday, to get even closer to the continental scene.
An unexpected prospect at the start of the season but which does not disturb the former scorer for Montpellier and Huddersfield, in the Premier League.
“It makes us laugh to be where we are. We laugh in the locker room when we talk about Europe. We take advantage of it. We have no pressure. It is on those who made it a goal at the start of the season. We're going to try to be a troublemaker until the end
,” he joked two months ago, when it was still only a distant goal.
With 13 points ahead of Reims, 7th and first non-European with six days remaining, the idea of a European Brest no longer makes anyone laugh, but that does not trouble the 29-year-old center forward any further.
A strong head
“Steve is certainly the most placid, quiet guy, with a well-placed ego, sure of his qualities, of his strengths but who never adds to it. He’s a real fighter
,” emphasized his trainer Eric Roy in mid-February.
Beyond his 1.90 m, it is undoubtedly this aggressiveness, in the good sense of the term, which makes his heading game one of the very best in Europe.
He is the player who has won the most aerial duels in Ligue 1 this season (94), tied with Toulouse's Danish defender Rasmus Nicolaisen, but with almost half as much playing time.
This season, in all competitions, four of his five goals have been scored with headers and if we extend the statistic to his entire professional career, the proportion is almost 50%, with 34 goals out of 70 (excluding penalties) in high altitude.
A strong point which makes him dependent on the activities around him -
"the centers are my livelihood"
, he explained to Ouest-France in April 2022 -, and which somewhat masks all his contribution to the collective balance of the group.
“It’s the ground that speaks”
“Steve and Martin (Satriano, Mounié's competitor in attack) are guys who fight a lot, who are in duels, so sometimes it's complicated to ask them to be in the area (...) but if We, the midfielders, we score a lot, it's thanks to their efforts
,” insisted Pierre Lees-Melou after Brest's victory in Strasbourg (3-0) at the end of February.
The Beninese, whose state of mind is unanimously praised in the locker room, has adapted to sharing the position with the Uruguayan Satriano, on loan from Inter Milan, since the start of the season.
“My experience has made me understand that animosity towards a direct competitor is useless. It’s the terrain that speaks. An attacker, as soon as he scores goals and/or helps the team to win, he deserves to play, period,”
he summarized in the Télégramme in December.
At the end of his contract in June, he is one of the priority files at Brest, whose workforce is likely to be turned upside down this summer.
A proposal to extend for two years, and perhaps also discover Europe, was formulated at the beginning of the month but Mounié is taking his time to study it with a cool head.