We are in the mid-1980s, in Thury-Harcourt (Calvados), in the heart of Normandy.
A young man of 24 is a professor of maths and natural sciences in the college of this large town of 200 souls south of Caen.
In his spare time, he also officiates as a player-coach of the boarding village team of the Promotion d'Honneur.
He is Moroccan and his name is Nasser Largue t.
Thirty-five years later, he is preparing to lead in Lens, for the first time in his career, a professional club, OM, after the dismissal on Tuesday of André Villas-Boas.
The Olympique de Marseille announces the dismissal as a conservatory of André Villas-Boas.
- Olympique de Marseille (@OM_Officiel) February 2, 2021
His studies at the University of Caen in pharmacy and microbiology prevented him from achieving his first dream: to become a professional footballer.
"My priority, like all the young people of my generation, was clear, that of continuing my studies and obtaining a higher degree in order to be able to earn my living" he confided, one day, to a Moroccan newspaper.
A brilliant pharmacy student
Born in 1962 in Sidi Slimane in a family passionate about… basketball, Larguet arrived in France in the early 80s. He began his career at ASPTT Caen, then at US Normande in 4th Division, the equivalent of National 2 today.
This amateur club was owned by the large metallurgical factory now no longer on the heights of Mondeville.
In the mid-1950s, Michel Hidalgo, the former coach of the Blues (1976-1984) then manager of OM (1986-1991), had also repeated his first ranges of apprentice footballer there.
Unlike most of his partners, Larguet is not a steelworker, but a brilliant student.
In Thury-Harcourt, he discovered a passion.
This will not leave him: coaching.
"A good coach must include his action in an interactive approach, having a sense of listening and entering into empathy with his players to understand the meaning they give to their action" he maintains.
He gradually abandoned a career in teaching, yet full of promise, to move towards football as an educator.
The professional world discovered him in Rouen in 1991. There he met Daniel Zorzetto who taught him the ranges.
When FC Rouen closed down, he took charge of training at AS Cannes in 1995. A few years earlier, a certain Zinedine Zidane performed his first arabesques there.
After Cannes, return to Normandy
From Cannes to Caen, it was only a matter of a few letters and Larguet returned to “his” Normandy in 1998 with the title of director of the training center at the Stade Malherbe in Caen.
Under his leadership, Ronald Zubar or Mathieu Bodmer become professionals.
Coveted by Rennes or… Manchester United, his next destination brings him across the Seine, in Le Havre, to one of the best training centers in the country.
In 2004, he moved to Strasbourg and promoted, for example, the emergence of Morgan Schneiderlin.
“When you recruit a young person, it's to make him a pro.
If this is not the case, we will still have won a man ”, assures the former teacher who holds his coaching diploma since 2006. Two years later, the King of Morocco entrusts him with the Mohammed VI Academy of soccer.
After an ephemeral return to the Caen training center between June and September 2014, the Shereefian kingdom names it DTN.
He remained in this function until 2019. He then became director of the Olympique de Marseille training center.
Since his arrival in Provence, he has seen a dozen players become professionals such as Niels Nkounkou, Ugo Bertelli and Cheick Souaré.
And recently, he also brought in a Moroccan hopeful (from the Mohamed VI Academy), Oussama Targhalline.
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By signing his contract, this recognized trainer was far from imagining himself, less than two years later, leaving the shadows for the light.
For ninety minutes at least.