What will be under his skull?
And under his sky and white tunic?
A small pang in the heart?
Nothing ?
Gaël Fickou will not be, anyway, a player like the others this Friday evening (8:45 p.m.) during the derby between Racing 92 and the Stade Français in Paris La Défense Arena in the barrage of access to the semi-finals.
It will even be the center of all attention.
Because you had to dare to do what he did.
A change of jersey in the middle of the championship.
Just when the games get tense, the cleavers fall.
Above all, it was necessary to dare to go to the neighbor at short notice, throwing years of rivalry over his shorts.
A sign of the times when the attachment to colors is no longer necessarily visceral, this express transfer in mid-April has moved observers more than the main players themselves, who are ultimately rather happy.
Stade Français is saving money, Racing is strengthening and the player does not lose a cent.
" It's from the past "
"It must still make him funny to find himself so quickly in front of his former friends," slips Eric Blanc, the former three-quarter and president of Ciel et Blanc.
"We knew that this situation could happen when he left," said Thomas Lombard, the general manager of the Paris club.
We just had an agreement so that he would not compete in the derby that followed (
Editor's note: won 35-29 by Stade Français in La Défense
).
We say to ourselves that all that is now in the past.
"
Read alsoTop 14: Physically perked up, can Stade Français withstand the shock against Racing?
If he thrives in Racing where he now teams up with his great friend, his "brother" Teddy Thomas and his partner in the center of the XV of France Virimi Vakatawa, Gaël Fickou (27 years old, 63 selections) nevertheless keeps a grudge against its former leaders.
“Even if he understood the financial reasons, it did not make him happy to no longer be desired, to no longer be a priority,” explains a relative of the player.
That's why he wanted to turn the page as quickly as possible.
He is a pro and he shows no signs of nervousness before this derby.
"
Gaël Fickou, here in the Stade Français jersey against Toulon during the 11th day of the Top 14. LP / Arnaud Journois
Among the Parisians, his departure was not seen as a betrayal. “It's going to be weird to play against a friend,” reckons full-back Kylan Hamdaoui, “but we'll say hello before the game, we'll give everything and we'll go have a beer together afterwards. “Gonzalo Quesada, the manager, nevertheless got down to modifying some combination announcements. “From the return match, even if he wasn't playing, we knew he was going to share certain things with his new team,” says the Argentine. We changed a few patterns and we did the same for this jump-off. Enough to keep his former flagship player from shining in the spotlight of his new home?