Its new Rennes colors suit it so well.
Red and black, like "El Diablo", the nickname which his childhood friends have always adorned him for his sense of hellish purpose.
Before facing Metz this Sunday (3 p.m.), Gaëtan Laborde is currently co-top scorer in Ligue 1 with Lille's Jonathan David (six goals).
A late recognition for this discreet but not erased striker, who is finally showing at 27 years of all his potential.
His instinctive goal, scored before the truce during the success against PSG (2-0), sums up his career well: that of a player that we did not really see coming - talk to Nuno Mendes who l 'forget at the far post - but that can wreak havoc when served well.
Permanently outclassed in Bordeaux, first CFA match at 15 and a half, spent in the French team from U17 to U20, he nevertheless struggled to win in the elite.
Launched on the lawns of Ligue 1 in December 2015, ten days after a certain Kylian Mbappé, he has anything but followed the frantic rise of the prodigy of Bondy.
The click with Corinne Deacon
At a time when the importance of mental health questions the world of sport, was Gaëtan Laborde not lacking precisely, "mental"? This is what Jocelyn Gourvennec reproached him one day with a hint in front of the press, considering that he "undoubtedly asked himself a few too many questions". The Girondins gave him his first steps, a dream for the youngster of Mont-de-Marsan (Landes). Only, loan to loan (Red Star, Brest and Clermont) to harden up and from coach to coach in place in Bordeaux, the hope of becoming the new Marouane Chamakh never materializes. His 6 goals and 5 assists in 2016-2017, at 22, are not enough to install him: he falls in the hierarchy at the slightest drop in speed in favor of more flashy recruits.
[#SRFCPSG] @ Kamaldeenho10 & 𝗚𝗮𝗲̈𝘁𝗮𝗻 𝗟𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲 say hello to you 👋
🎙 @bleuarmorique pic.twitter.com/M2dsFVXZjW
- Stade Rennais FC (@staderennais) October 4, 2021
Corinne Deacon, who relaunched it six months in 2016 in Clermont, rather evokes a question of tact and patience.
“She had the right words.
I say, she saved my career.
If I had remained inactive for a year or almost, it would have been complicated to bounce back, ”described the person in Le Parisien at the end of 2020.
The coach of the Blue smiles.
“It's nice but he's the one who also put a lot of will into it.
Gaëtan needs to feel well surrounded, with family, with his friends, but this is the case with many attackers.
In this position, we walk a lot in confidence and it is not a cliché to say it.
Sometimes the current goes on, other times it doesn't.
Gaëtan, when you take him, he's an atypical profile, not very fine and technical, but already, what he was skilful in front of the goal!
"
"He's one of the strikers with whom I had the most fun"
Finally, it was in Montpellier, where his big brother Mickaël had tried to become a professional, that he found the ideal home. “There too, at the beginning, he had trouble scoring but he explained to me that Der Zakarian, the staff and the players were always encouraging him in training, and telling him that things were going to turn out. And we saw that once the counter was triggered, it never stopped, ”says Théo Pellenard. The side of AJ Auxerre is one of his best friends since their joint training in Haillan, the center of the Girondins. “We often discuss this period. Him like me, it's still a regret to have never made a breakthrough in Bordeaux, he breathes. There was a lot of competition,a lot of waiting on the part of the supporters so we put guys with experience or who came from abroad while we also had young people just as good at the center… ”
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In three exercises in the Hérault, the Landais stacks 39 goals (without taking the penalties) and 20 assists, barely less than his friend in tip Andy Delort (47 and 21).
“Gaëtan liked to play and spend his days with others.
He has a sense of goal, he is generous, he is not afraid of anything and he is an exceptional head player, ”describes his mentor Michel Der Zakarian, now in Brest.
He noted a few areas for progression ("playing more accurately in the intervals when it overflows" in particular) but recovers quickly.
"It remains one of the attackers with whom I enjoyed the most".
More responsibilities in Rennes
At Roazhon Park now to enjoy it. While the transfer window almost sent him to Sevilla FC, which plays in the Champions League, joining Rennes and the Europa Conference League (against 15 million euros) could have left him a touch of bitterness. In view of the other clubs refused (Zenith Saint Petersburg and West Ham, among others), the choice of Brittany does not seem improvised. “Gaëtan wanted an ambitious club which plays Europe, it is the case, attests his brother Mickaël. Here, he may even have an additional role of leader with young people around him ”. The one who was a dad from the age of 18 and who got married this summer in the Landes is capable of it, according to his relatives. Not necessarily as a captain but as a unifier.
"He has the temperament of a guy from the Southwest," sums up Michel Der Zakarian.
A winner, a bon vivant but beware, who can also be extremely grumpy.
"It's weird," said the elder.
When we play pétanque or cards, Gaëtan can be the worst bad player and take an evening to recover.
Whereas, on a field, it is absolute composure.
“Hot in the locker room, intractable on a field and especially in front of the cages, it is not Rennes who will complain.
