The irreducible Robin Le Normand

Robin Le Normand (Pabu, France; 25 years old) lives in Astigarraga, a town near San Sebastián, famous for its cider houses, where the traditional menu of steak and cod omelette is tasted and where the aroma of apple permeates everything.

He comes from the scent of the Atlantic sea off the coast of Armor, in Brittany, near the village of Asterix and his irreducible Gauls.

He is one of them.

The French defender has become an essential footballer in Imanol Alguacil's scheme at Real Sociedad, although he was discarded in his homeland.

He made his debut at Stade Brestois, in Ligue 2, in 2016, at the age of 20, but only played one game.

The French team did not renew him, but Eric Olhats was around, the scout who recommended the signing of Antoine Griezmann to Real.

Although Le Normand had been rejected by a second-rate French team, Olhats had enough credit in the San Sebastian club to at least be heard.

Le Normand did a test and stayed.

It was difficult for him to adapt, because of the language and the style of play, but he ended up taking the place in the subsidiary and later, in the first team.

Le Normand is the only outfield player in the League to have completed every minute in the tournament.

In the list of players in the Spanish championship there are only five who have added the full minutes and the other four are goalkeepers: Courtois (Real Madrid), Dituro (Celta), Ledesma (Cádiz) and Oblak (Atlético).

In fact, the Frenchman has only seen two Real Sociedad games, of different pedigree, from the bench.

He did not play against Monaco, in the Europa League, or against Panaderías Pulido, in the Copa del Rey.

He was substituted three times: against Zamora (m. 78) in the Cup, and against PSV and Leipzig —both times in the 61st minute—, in continental competition.

Imanol has faith in his left-footed center back, who for much of the season played on the left, but in recent games, with a scheme of three defenders and two lanes, he occupies the most central position.

In the major European leagues, Le Normand is also a unique case.

Among the 20 footballers who add the most playing minutes, 14 are goalkeepers —De Gea, at United, is the one who has played the longest (2,430 minutes)—.

The other six are central defenders, and only one of them, the Portuguese José Fonte, who plays for Lille, has played every minute of every game as Le Normand.

In the list of outfield players, the one who has played the most minutes is Jansson (Brentford, 2,421), but the Premier has played one more day, and was also substituted in the 82nd minute of the fifth day.

The same goes for Crystal Palace's Mitchell (2,420), who twice left the field before the end of the match, and Napoli's Di Lorenzo, substituted against Salernitana and Cagliari.

The importance of Imanol

Imanol has contributed a lot to the formation of the Breton defender, a wall of 1.87 meters and 84 kilos of weight, quite difficult to overcome from above, although due to his corpulence he lacks a little waist.

He makes up for it with his placement and spectacular concentration.

He himself recognizes that the presence of Imanol in his career has been fundamental.

"When I retire I will do a summary and surely Imanol will be the coach of my career," Le Normand pointed out at the beginning of the season.

“I have been with him for six years, he has always demanded a lot, a lot, a lot from me, but then he has been fair and has allowed me to play in the first team”, he commented, and explained that evolution until he became the undisputed starter: “In Sanse we put many hours of video together for me to improve, for me to assimilate things and that is something I am grateful for”.

Le Normand, already consolidated in the First Division, now aspires to reach internationality with France, an option complicated by the quality of the French central defenders.

In any case, he rules out, at least for now, playing for Spain like his compatriot Aymeric Laporte.

“I just want to play for France.

Spain?

My family kills me.

I don't care if they call me Spain or Germany.

I only want with France”, he says, and claims not to be aware of what the French coach, Didier Deschamps, thinks: “He makes his decisions.

I concentrate on mine, on working.

Of course I would like to go and I work every day to be able to be there one day, to be summoned, and above all to perform if he calls me.

But I'm still focused on mine."

Minute by minute.

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