Wonderkid Factories: Le Havre
There are some French clubs that are very well known for their production of young players and we will look at a few of those later in the series but Le Havre have passed quite quietly under the radar and today we’ll shine a spotlight on their player development prowess.
The club has spent the majority of its history in Ligue 2, the second tier of French football, but throughout all of that, their academy has consistently produced extremely talented youngsters. Unfortunately, most of them are pinched by bigger clubs before they can have a huge impact on the club but their reputation and resume has earnt them a place on our wonderkid factories list.
Le Havre are one of the oldest clubs in France having been established in 1872 but their now famous academy and training centre wasn’t set up until 1983. Since then the Normandy club have pumped out international players for both France and other countries.
Similarly to the German system, the club operates with a second team (B team) but also has an U19’s and U17’s team who both compete at the highest national level in France. In fact the U19’s won the highly prestigious Coupe Gambardella, which is the French Youth Cup, in 1989 a feat they have yet to repeat but would struggle to considering the resources of some of their opponents.
As mentioned before though, the first team has not been able to replicate the success of its youth teams. The Normandy club’s biggest success came in 1959 when they won the Coupe de France (France’s most prestigious knockout competition) but have never come close to that success since. In fact the club hasn’t been in Ligue 1 for over 12 years now, after being relegated in the 2008/09 season.
The sky and navy blues were founded by Englishmen and given the club colours in honour of their old schools, Oxford and Cambridge. In fact the club’s anthem, although sung in French, is sung to the tune of God Save the Queen. Despite their English roots though, the club produced a few of France’s 2018 World Cup winning squad.
Former Le Havre players include Paul Pogba, Benjamin Mendy, Lassana Diarra, Jean-Alain Boumsong, Steve Mandanda, Dimitri Payet, Charles N’Zogbia and Carlos Kameni. An honourable mention to Riyad Mahrez as well who never played for the academy but did feature briefly for the B team.
Both Pogba and N’Zogbia were subjects of alleged illegal transfer bids with the proper amount of compensation not being paid, but only Newcastle were arbitrated by Fifa to pay the compensation for N’Zogbia.
Le Havre may have been stripped of some of their best talent but we’ve taken a look at some other players who may become stars of the future.
Souleymane Isaak Toure (Centre Back)
This young central defender has come through the ranks at Le Havre all the way from U17’s level and after featuring predominantly for the B team last season, the 18 year old has been called up to the first team. He’s already made seven appearances in the league this season and looks set to have a bright future.
Abdoullah Ba (Defensive Midfielder)
Another recent call up to the first team, Ba has impressed in his seven appearances this term. The 18 year old has shown great maturity and will only feature more in the Normandy club’s midfield as the season progresses.
Amir Richardson (Central Midfielder)
Richardson has also been bumped up to first team duties this season and has excelled. He’s started all but two of Le Havre’s games this season and at just 19 years old has helped anchor the midfield and push the Normandy club to 4th in Ligue 2.
Sadly Le Havre are one of the teams that’s been hit by the financial crisis in French football and although they are not in as bad a position as others, the club is currently up for sale for just 15 million Euros.