The goalkeeper of the French handball team, Vincent Gérard, will leave Saint-Raphaël for Kiel in June 2023, the two clubs announced on Tuesday.
Gérard (35, 137 caps) "wanted to play the European Cup next season to prepare for the Summer Olympics in Paris," said Saint-Raphaël in a press release, where the doorman arrived this summer after three seasons at Paris SG.
📣 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐔𝐍𝐈𝐐𝐔𝐄 𝐎𝐅𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐄𝐋: 𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐆𝐄 𝐆𝐄 𝐒'𝐄𝐍𝐕𝐎𝐋𝐄𝐑𝐀 𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐊𝐈𝐄𝐋, 𝐋𝐀 𝐒𝐀𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐄!
⬇️ Read the official press release in full.https://t.co/CvaO2qCOQP
– Saint-Raphaël Var Handball (@SRVHB) November 29, 2022
He will compete in the Champions League with the German team, four-time winners of the event and one of the best on the continent.
Vincent Gérard wishes in a press release "to thank the club of Saint-Raphaël for having done everything possible to find a positive outcome to my request".
The Var club has indeed released him from his contract which ran until 2025.
The doorman of the Blues has signed up for a year plus another option and will replace Danish international Niklas Landin on the shores of the Baltic Sea, back home in Aalborg at the end of the season.
“Kiel was, from a very young age, one of the clubs of my dreams.
It was even for him that I learned German at school.
It's a dream come true, I'm very proud and happy,” Gerard told the Kiel “Zèbres” website.
“I know there will be a lot of waiting, but that's why I signed in Kiel.
I like to play matches at the highest level every three days and have the pressure of having to win matches,” he added.
