French Cup: from Marseille to Reunion… Grandin, the traveler from Saint-Pierre

He left the Coupe de France eleven years ago after a semi-final with Grenoble lost to Rennes (0-1). Elliot Grandin found her, this year, in the jersey of the Jeunesse Sportive Saint-Pierroise (R1), the Reunion club faced, this Saturday at 4 p.m., with Épinal (N2) for the first sixteenth final of her history. In the meantime, the 32-year-old midfielder, trained by Caen and moved to Marseille in 2008, has traveled a lot: Bulgaria (CSKA Sofia, Astra Giurgiu), England (Blackpool, Crystal Palace, Shrewsbury), Cyprus (Aradippou) or Saudi Arabia (Al-Nahda).

"I am relatively proud of my career," smiles the native of Caen. I played at Stade Vélodrome with OM or on the English Premier League lawns. It's beautiful. Afterwards, I made some bad choices like leaving England to try a failed experience in Romania in Astra. It was nonsense. "

Elliot Grandin, in the OM jersey, during a Coupe de France match between Marseille and Monaco, February 3, 2008./Belga/Icon Sport

In France, we had lost sight of him since an inconclusive six-month loan in Nice in 2012. “I tried to return to France in Fréjus (N2) in 2018, but the amateur community in mainland France did not help me. not agreed, he says. It was not for me. So when the Saint-Pierroise club called me, I said go, we're going there for a year . I was pleasantly surprised. People love soccer there. I was adopted very quickly. "

A providential exemption

If Grandin participated in the first rounds of the Coupe de France, his one-year contract with Saint-Pierre ended on December 31. Normally, he should not have played on January 4, the historic 32nd finals of the club in Niort (2-1). "In fact, I played thanks to a waiver," he says. It will be the same for the sixteenths. I can sign wherever I want right now. I am not against staying here, but I have not yet agreed with the club president. "

For this football globetrotter, Saint-Pierroise has the potential to become the first overseas club to make it to the knockout stages of the Coupe de France. “The team, in my opinion, is superior to Regional level 1 ( Editor's note: sixth division ). She is almost, I believe, at the National level. Against Epinal, we have all our chances. People don't know it, but in the workforce, we have Malagasy internationals, former pros and very good young people. Frankly, we must not be taken lightly. "