Nîmes Olympique: for Derick Osei, playing is priceless

Derick Osei should bring his percussion and speed to the front of the crocodile attack. NÎMES OLYMPIQUE – ARNAUD ROLLET

Présent à la Bastide depuis mi-août, l'ancien du TFC est entré en cours de match à Valenciennes. MIDI LIBRE – ERIC DELANZY

Arrivé fin août à Nîmes après un an et demi sans club, l’attaquant a faim de ballon et de jeu.

Wednesday at the Bastide, at the end of the day's closed session and at lunchtime, a barbecue awaited the crocodile group, offered by two of the new arrivals, Oussama Abdeldjelil and Mehdi Beneddine. Another Gard recruit is hungry. Hungry for balls and play in the person of Derick Osei, Nîmes striker since August 21 (one year contract). '

''When you don't play, you have a period where you doubt, it's like a little death, explains the latter, 26 years old on September 10. There's no one calling you, the clubs are in their thing, players perform. When you get calls, it's tough because you don't get a lot of playing time. You really have to be mentally strong.''

This is more or less what the daily life of the Toulouse native has been like for more than twenty months! Before coming on as a substitute for Nîmes last Friday in Valenciennes (0-2), replacing Sbaï (72nd), Derick Osei had not set foot on the pitch in an official match since December 3, 2022, in Inverness, with Dundee FC, in the Scottish 2nd division.

Against Spain, he replaced… Kylian Mbappé

The current 6th in the Scottish Premiership (1st division) was the player's seventh club in six years.
''Derrick is someone who has experience at the highest level, who also has a bit of perspective on football, his career'', supports the sporting director of NO, Sébastien Larcier, who knows his player has come to relaunch himself in the Gard : ''Obviously he has come to relaunch himself. Otherwise he wouldn't be among us.''

Because nothing really predestined Derick Osei to one day experience the National. Aspiring, intern and then pro at 19 years old at TFC, the Franco-Ghanaian seemed destined for a completely different career. ''As a youth, I also played for the French team (U19, U20)'', he adds. He even replaced… Kylian Mbappé, in November 2016 in a friendly against Spain U19: ''He didn't stay with us for long, he was outclassed (laughs).''

Sixty matches played in four years!

In the winter of 2019, Stade Brestois spent 150,000 euros on the table to enlist Osei, a pure product of ‘’Tef’’, who signed up for two and a half seasons with SB29, where he played three L2 matches and reached the Elite at the end of the season.
This Ligue 1 that he will never know. The time that marked a bit of the beginning of the end for him. Six-month loan to Béziers (N), return to Brest, transfer to Oxford (D3), loan to Walsall (D3), before eight months without playing and landing at Wimbledon (D3), in March 2022: ''We go down to D4, the coach changes. I wasn't very keen on staying there.''
Dundee included, that's only 60 matches in total played over four years! ''Since I hadn't played for a long time, I couldn't refuse Nîmes, Osei concedes. It's a good club and I'm happy, too, to come back to France.''

''We shouldn't be demanding right away'', warns Larcier

Nîmes is taking a gamble. The risks are limited.''We were looking for a free attacker, capable of supporting Ouss (Abdeldjelil), of meeting the athletic requirements of the National (1.88 meters; 84 kg), who had a good education, explains Larcier. He came to live with us, Adil (Hermach) and I are sensitive to the quality of group life. It ticks the boxes. We shouldn't be demanding right away, but in a month or two, it could be someone who can give Ouss a break, or even put him in competition or associate him.'' That's good, Osei is just waiting to play.

The latest echoes of the Crocos

HUIS CLOS –For the first time this season, the Nîmes staff has decided to hold three closed-door sessions (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday). Could the tension be rising a notch before the reception of Rouen and, already, the obligation to win ?
RECRUE ? Bastian Badu is still present at the Bastide training center. When met this Wednesday, the player confided that he was ''in re-athleticization'' following his back problems. The player trained at MHSC was confident about his signing.
ROUEN – For the reception of Rouen, Friday at 6:30 p.m. at the Antonins (time brought forward because France – Italy at 8:45 p.m.), captain Formose Mendy should hold the bar in defense. ''It's okay. Well, there, we put a tourniquet (ankle) but it's okay'', he pointed out. As a right-back, will Iafrate, who ended up in this position at Valenciennes, start in place of Sbaï ? Press conference, this Thursday at 4pm.

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