Football: Aboubacar Ali Abdallah on the wing, discovering the Nîmes player on loan from Strasbourg

Ali Abdallah's first minutes with NO, Friday against Rouen. He could have benefited from a penalty… Midi Libre – ALEXIS BETHUNE

Ali Abdallah's debut with NO, Friday against Rouen. He could have benefited from a penalty… Midi Libre – ALEXIS BETHUNE

National/Before Concarneau (4th) – NO (11th), Friday September 13 at 7:30 p.m. With the latest Nîmes recruit, loaned by Strasbourg and who is only 18, everything is moving very quickly…

"We want to loan him. We'll take care of everything." At the end of August, Nîmes sports director Sébastien Larcier obviously jumped at the chance and at this message from his friend Loïc Désiré, head of recruitment at RC Strasbourg. However, NO's summer market seemed to be over. The Gard club, which had not managed to trim its numbers (Labonne and Delpech, in particular, stayed) and therefore reduce its payroll, had decided to bet on players who had been free for a long time – Osei and Badu signed an amateur contract – to strengthen the attacking front.

Launched by Patrick Vieira

And the Aboubacar Ali Abdallah opportunity arrived. And the Reunion Islander, 9 appearances in Ligue 1 in 2024 (1 start), was loaned by Racing without a purchase option on the last day of the transfer window. His future was nevertheless initially in Alsace, then in a second in Brittany. The third time, in Gard, was the right one.

Explanations from the player, 18 years old since April 2: “If Patrick Vieira had stayed, it would have been different. I would surely have been in the rotation in Ligue 1. He was the one who launched me last season. He had a lot of confidence in the youngsters. I got on very well with him, he advised me, told me what was going well and what wasn't. In July, we went on a training camp in Austria. When we got back, we had a week's vacation, and we were told about the change of coach. The new (Liam Rosenior, Editor's note) told me that he wasn't counting on me this season and that I might end up playing in the reserves; so it was better that I was loaned out. I decided to leave. I was supposed to go to Guingamp (currently 3rd in L2)but on condition that a player who played in my position leaves the club. That didn't happen, and I finally came to Nîmes”.

“Abou” Abdallah (1.83 m ; 73 kg) will normally play left winger, his preferred position (off-foot, technical and deep) even if he can also be “number 9”, he specifies. “Nîmes was in Ligue 1 not long ago. There is a project, good working conditions, they play football, I think it could be a very good club for me. I am not coming here to play for survival, but for promotion.”

From Reunion to Alsace

The child of the Indian Ocean – he was born in Reunion but has Mahoran (Mayotte) and Malagasy origins – is climbing the ladder of his budding football career at full speed. He started out as a central defender at Convenance, his local club in Sainte-Marie, before joining the island's big club, Saint-Denis. And the Reunion U14 team, outclassed with the 2005s and often scoring goals. With them, he will be noticed during a tournament in the Paris region, in Torcy, where he faces PSG, Dijon or Auxerre. In the process, in October 2021, six players from Reunion Island, including him, were invited for a few days of trial in Strasbourg, which has a partnership with his club in Saint-Denis. He is the only one that Racing wants to keep. Even if Lorient, Brest and especially OM follow him, Aboubacar Ali Abdallah opts for Alsace, which he joins in January 2022.

“When I come on in L1 against Monaco, it's another world. You're going deaf on the pitch!"

U17. U19. Reserve. Ligue 1, first appearance at 17 years and 342 days against Monaco in March (the club's first 2006!), first assist against Reims in April, first professional contract as a birthday present (3 years, until 2027) and "first start in the derby against Metz in the match that we must not lose. We win it, we stay up and they go down (after the play-off, Editor's note)", he smiled. Everything happened very quickly.

“I didn't expect it, even though there are a lot of players from the first team academy at Racing. When I came on for the first time against Monaco, it was another world, you became deaf on the pitch with the noise of the Meinau. I'm only 18 but we don't look at age in football. I feel comfortable in the adult world, I was well on my way with Strasbourg, and I see myself having a good career”, he confides.

Cousin of Marseille's Keyliane, nephew of former Croco Maoulida

Like Kroupi (Lorient) or Sangui (Reims, a regular in L1), teammates in the French U16 team. Like his cousin Keyliane Abdallah, born three days after “Abou” Ali, on April 5, 2006, also a winger and appeared with OM in Brest during the first day of L1 (5-1). Keyliane is also the nephew of Maoulida, former crocodile scorer (2014-2016). The Mahoran succession is assured in Nîmes with Aboubacar, launched at full speed in his corridor.

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