wattThere was plenty of interest from Jeff Rene-Adelaide last year when he was looking for a new club. But the former Arsenal teenage prodigy, who joined Lyon for €25 million in 2019 after reviving his career at Angers, has been asked the same question.
“A lot of teams wanted me last summer, but the question was whether I was really ready to play a full season,” he said. “I can understand they were scared after I got injured because I only played a few games and didn’t start a lot.”
After two ACL injuries ruined Reine Adelaide’s chances at Lyon, he has made 24 appearances for RWD Molenbeek this season – his first since his breakthrough season at Angers in 2018-19 most appearances – a triumph for him. He signed a one-year contract with the Brussels club, which is part of John Dexter’s Eagle Football Group, which also owns Olympique Lyonnais. In recognition of his leadership in team battles.
“I’m really happy that I’ve been injury-free all season and started every game, which is really good for me,” he said. “I really needed it – now I can trust my body again.”
RWDM, whose full name is Racing White Daring Molenbeek, beat Eupen 3-1 on Saturday to escape from the bottom of the relegation play-offs, but they still face a difficult task to avoid relegation after being promoted last season. Rene Adelaide leads a young squad made up of players from other clubs in the Eagle Football Network, including Brazilian clubs Botafogo and Crystal Palace, and is deployed in deeper depth than he has previously known. field position.
“It’s very good; I’m the player that everyone has to look for on the pitch to try to build games,” he said. “It’s very different to when I was at Arsenal because I was the youngest player and now I’m 26 and I’m one of the most experienced players in a young team. When I was at Arsenal, I played with some big players and I got a lot of advice from them. I became more mature at Lyon and now it’s time for me to help the younger players because when you start playing football. You can learn a lot when doing it.
Rene-Adelaide starred in Arsenal’s pre-season friendly against Kevin De Bruyne’s Wolfsburg just weeks after joining in 2015, and also provided Theo Walcott 1 Assisted in the -0 win and was described by Wenger as a “special person”. “It still feels like a dream,” he said of the memory. “As a 17-year-old kid who just came here from Lens, this day is unbelievable for me.”
The athletic midfielder from the Paris suburb of Champigny-sur-Marne seems to have the world at his feet, starring in Arsenal’s youth teams and being hailed by Mikel Arteta A star, he described the teenager as having “all the qualities to be a really good player”.
“On the pitch he was outstanding, but also off the pitch: he was the captain and all the spirit came from him,” said current Arsenal manager Rene Adelaide. “He used to talk to the team before the game and it was obvious that he would go on to be a manager one day. I remember he came to me one time and said: ‘I’ve spoken to the manager and he said you’re going to play. , but you need to keep working. “He used to talk to Wenger every day because he wanted to know what everyone’s game plan was. He was like everyone’s big brother.
He added: “It was all very good – there were a lot of French players at Arsenal at the time, so I found it easy to adapt to life in London. On the pitch I felt really good because I was playing with such good players every day Mertesacker gave me a lot of advice, even though he often yelled at me on the pitch!
Rene Adelaide played eight competitive games for Arsenal in his first two seasons and was on the bench for an infamous 5-1 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League. But an ankle injury required surgery, meaning he missed the club’s 2017-18 pre-season tour.
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“You get your chance and if you miss it then you have to work hard to get back into the team. After that it’s difficult. Sometimes it’s about timing and maybe mentally I wasn’t quite ready. No. To fight because I had a lot of desire in my heart – I was training well there – but when I got injured they brought in some new players and it was tough but I’m really happy to have the experience.
After a successful loan spell at Angers, Reine-Adelaide described the move to Angers as “the best choice of my career” and eventually moved to Lyon. However, he suffered an ACL injury in December 2019 that ended his season, with the same injury missing nearly a year while on loan at Nice. Reine Adelaide told L’Equipe that it was “the worst thing that could have happened to me” and that he had “thought of retiring.”
“When everyone is with you, everything is fine,” he said. “But when they suddenly aren’t there, it’s a different experience. When you’re young, everyone is saying, ‘You are the future, you are the future.’ You have to be down to earth and think about working hard and always working hard.” do not give up. My advice to young players is to never stop working because you never know what will happen. Look at me, I was close to my dream, but I had two injuries… but my mentality is that I need to work hard to get back to the top level.
Rene Adelaide is understood to have been targeted by a number of Ligue 1 clubs and will become a free agent in the summer, but is unsure where his future lies, although he insists he has “many seasons left to play” “. As for Arsenal, he hopes they can return to Premier League form and top the table for the first time since 2004.
“I have some friends on the team like William Saliba, Eddie Nketiah and Reiss Nelson,” he said. “I hope they can win the Premier League. Good luck to them.
