At the start of the season, when we asked several recruiters which L2 players to follow, the same name came up several times: Eric Junior Dina Ebimbe. Why so much enthusiasm around this young 19-year-old midfielder, who appeared only twice on the bench of PSG pros last season? “Last year, he discovered the adult world by playing against thirty-year-old guys. He had a full season and was one of the technical leaders on the reserve. Inevitably, we want to see what it looks like on a professional level, ”says former Parisian U17 and U19 assistant Guillaume Serra.
Far from being the best known of the players trained in Paris, Dina Ebimbe is, in the opinion of several trainers, one of the sure values. Arrived at 11 years old in the pre-training, the young medium is outclassed, as of its entry in the center, with the generation 99. That of Boubakary Soumaré, Antoine Bernède, Stanley Nsoki. “My partners were already monsters. I was smaller than the others, more frail, I couldn't take the road, ”he remembers when he was late in morphology.
"Maybe there is nothing to scratch up there"
Between his 17 and 18 years, he is rid of these growth problems which certainly allowed him to work on his positioning, his reading of the game and his information gathering but which prevented him from playing as much as his partners. "I was too weak," he admits. My coaches told me not to worry and to watch the results later. And they were right. When you're 16, it's frustrating to be put aside sometimes. At the end of last season, a new frustration reveals his desires elsewhere. When the Sarcellois became aware of the possible departures of Moussa Diaby, Stanley Nsoki or Christopher Nkunku and other classmates, he asked himself questions. “I said to myself: if everyone is leaving, it may be that there is nothing to scratch up there.
Finally, it remains in the lap of PSG. Pro since May 2018, it extends until 2021 before being loaned a season in Le Havre and an optional second in the event of a climb. When Paul Le Guen called him at the end of June, everything went very quickly. The ex-Parisian trainer does not promise him to be indisputable holder. “I could have done the prep with the PSG pros but I didn't want to waste time, it was better to arrive early to make a place for myself quickly. There are players who will tell you the L2 is not for me. I am all terrain. The important thing was to play and progress. "
"All the work I do is to go back stronger to Paris"
The choice is profitable: 22 games of L2 including 20 as a holder for two goals and an assist. With Le Guen, Dina Ebimbe also discovered other positions. Used as a relay and sometimes defensive midfielder, it now evolves to the right, to the left or by attacking for support. "As long as it remains offensive, versatility is an asset," he comments soberly.
And then ? Everything therefore depends on the rise of Le Havre in L1. He has a plan which comes down to this sentence shared with his friend Mohamed Simakan, met for his first selections with the France U20 team at the end of 2019: "Always a little, a little"!
"I think he can come back to play PSG. He is able to adapt, he has known many ways to play, several coaches. He has the qualities, ”says a PSG trainer. "It will go towards total, organized and collective football," says Guillaume Serra. In five years, Dina Ebimbe sees herself in a big club. And why not in his training club? “All the work I do is to go back stronger to Paris. "