Ligue 1. “It’s not easy, we expect him to score goals straight away”: how Elye Wahi’s season is going in Lens, five months after his departure from MHSC ?

Ici avec son ancien coéquipier au MHSC, Maxime Estève, Elye Wahi peine à s'imposer à Lens. JEAN-MICHEL MART – MIDI LIBRE

Whistled for the first time last weekend, Elye Wahi struggles to justify in Ligue 1 the record amount paid by Lens to bring him from Montpellier, and it is the entire attack of the club which suffered before hosting Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday January 14 (8:45 p.m.).

Far from the unanimous acclaim received during his presentation at Bollaert last summer, Elye Wahi suffered his first boos in the same stadium last Sunday during the 32nd final of Coupe de France lost by the Sang et Or on penalties.

These whistles demonstrated the impatience, perhaps also the incomprehension of the club's supporters in the face of the average performance of a player recruited at a high price. For Wahi, his speed, his technique and his potential (21 years old), the Artois club spent 30 million euros and five in bonuses, an amount that it did not 39;had never paid for a transfer until then.

The Ligue 1 ranking and the program for the 18th day

But at the intermission of the 2023-2024 season, the former Montpellier player has only scored two goals in thirteen Ligue 1 matches. In the wake of regular scorer of Lens, the club has only scored 21 times despite its seventh place (26 points), half as many as Paris Saint-Germain (forty points), which occupies the head of the ranking . 

Haise: "The transfer amount doesn't matter"

Certainly, Elye Wahi also scored two goals in the Champions League which weigh heavily at the time of a first assessment, since they offered Lens a feat against Arsenal (2-1 ) and a draw against PSV Eindhoven (1-1).

His trainer Franck Haise is asking for time. “He's a young player who is progressing but who still needs to progress in a new environment, new expectations and a different status, he adds. The amount of the transfer doesn't matter to me. What matters is what I feel about the player's potential, (…) how he progresses."

Before adding: "Loïs Openda was also a young player." For now, Wahi suffers from comparison with his predecessor, who scored 21 times in the league last season before flying to Leipzig.

"Loïs, last year, had not been 100% from the start, recalls Franck Haise. Even though he had scored quite quickly, it had been months of work. Loïs had ended up like a cannonball and I hope that Elye too and above all that he will have a great and beautiful career because he has all the qualities.& quot;

Too often offside

As much as his lack of efficiency still visible against Monaco, Wahi annoys with his inability to go deep, a quality nevertheless praised by the mining basin club upon his arrival. Among the 59 offside calls against the Lensois in all competitions this season, 25 were for the native of Courcouronnes.

This statistic stands out when we know that the Artesian club bases part of its game on recovering the ball high up, followed by a deep pass. Here again, Franck Haise defends his attacker, arguing that it is "sometimes the passer who is at fault because he delays a little, sometimes the receiver because he anticipates too much' ;quot;.

But the Norman concedes: "There are offsides on replacement problems. It's up to the player to make the effort to sometimes come back a little faster near the defensive line to be able to attack the depth again if we recover the ball. (…) We've been putting our finger on it for a while now."

Saïd doesn't push behind either

The replacement for the international Espoirs in this position, Wesley Saïd (28 years old), does not yet seem able to reverse the hierarchy despite his slightly better statistics (four goals in eleven meetings).

"It's normal that there is waiting around him (Wahi, Editor's note), concedes captain Brice Samba. He's a boy, in the locker room, who is very fulfilled. We have no doubt about the potential he has. It's not easy, he's a striker, we expect him to score goals straight away, and I know it will come quickly.' There is no doubt that a goal against PSG on Sunday will immediately reconcile him with the Bollaert public.