Monaco always has a knack for bringing out young talented people from its training center. After Chrislain Matsima and Enzo Millot appeared a few times this season, here is Eliot Matazo. For his second start of the season last weekend against Metz, the 19-year-old Belgian splashed the meeting with his talent. Tonic and lively, precise and technical, comfortable with the ball and a decisive passer for Kevin Volland, the midfielder delivered a flashy performance. Not bad for an element that plays very little under Niko Kovac, the fault of a duo Youssouf Fofana-Aurélien Tchouaméni almost irreproachable since the start of the season.
Her time will come, she may even be approaching faster than you think. “He has great qualities, he is really improving. He had to seize an opportunity to show himself, and he did. I am sure that he will continue to work to improve day after day ”, persuaded himself his coach after the 4-0 victory against the Garnets. He also rewarded him three days later in the 8th finals of the Coupe de France with a new tenure, still against Metz. A little less sharp, he still played 80 minutes when his team won on penalties.
A heavy injury to start with Monaco
“My primary objective was to have fun while enjoying the present moment, without asking myself too many questions. Confidence came later. I’m satisfied with my performance, and it’s always better when you’re decisive for the team, as was the case on Saturday against Metz with this decisive pass. In the Coupe de France, it was more difficult. It is particular to chain two games against the same opponent. But we took care of the essentials by qualifying for the next round ” tells of a calm young man, whom we hardly suspect that fate has reserved a few spells for him.
Arrived on the Rock in the summer of 2018 from Anderlecht where he refused to sign a professional contract, he quickly injured his hip and had to be kept away from the pitch for 8 long months. A complicated period for the one who was captain of almost all the youth teams at the Mauves but he knew how to draw from it “experience”, determined “To come back stronger.” The passage to the infirmary finished, he thickens in Monaco where he alternates between the U19 and the reserve in National 2. The fate of the powerful midfielder changes with the arrival of Kovac in the summer of 2020.
The whole club is a fan of it
Summoned for the pre-season training camp in Poland, he catches the eye of his trainer but “Rio Mavuba”, his nickname at ASM, still has to take steps to play together in the pro group in the long term. “Eliot has a big desire, a big determination with a big athletic volume. He still has to progress in his playing volume ”, said David Bechkoura, the reserve coach. Patience and work, he will have it. Regularly summoned to the A, Eliot Matazo feels the bench, a lot of bench without ever showing his frustration, before taking his first steps with the professionals.
“He’s a rather introverted, well-mannered youngster who has a sense of respect and hierarchy. He is eager to learn, he is very hardworking and always wants to do more, lists an internal club source. He’s a boy who is always in a good mood, smiling, always respectful. He wants to put all the chances on his side to succeed. He is greatly appreciated by the group and internally. The echoes are favorable. ” Very favorable even since the midfielder has hired a personal physical trainer and is regularly one of the first to arrive at La Turbie. A big worker who tries to make his hole.
Matazo: “It was the sporting project that tipped the scales towards Monaco”
The competition is tough because besides Fofana and Tchouaméni, Fabregas is ahead of him in the hierarchy, but it is healthy to believe the atmosphere in the locker room. Pampered by his two French friends, the native of Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, a neighboring municipality of Brussels, is also incubated by his experienced Spanish partner. AS Monaco wants a golden youth and has always known how to value it. It is also no coincidence that Matazo joined the Principality, while very large European clubs (Bayern, Dortmund, Manchester City, Manchester United or even Juventus) were interested in him.
“It’s true that Anderlecht tried to keep me and it wasn’t an easy choice to refuse, but the Monaco project convinced me. It is a club which, historically, has launched a lot of young people. Many started here, others have emerged in the eyes of Europe, it is a great showcase. It was never a financial choice as we could read or hear it in Belgium, it is the sporting project which tipped the scales towards Monaco, connects a close relative of the player. In Manchester or Bayern, there were less certainties, in the end the choice was simply made “, rewinds Jérémy Doku’s promo buddy in Anderlecht.
Unlike his “brother” who plays at Stade Rennais, Matazo has never been called up for the Belgian selection. “A distant dream. But I will give myself the means to do so in the years to come. ” There is still a long way to go to rub shoulders with the Red Devils, he who wore this red and black jersey in the U16 and U18, unless you dream of the DRC, the country of his parents. How far away is the time when Matazo was hit with a very severe red against Saint-Etienne for his first tenure. The future looks bright for him. It now remains to continue the momentum. It will not be too much to help Monaco to touch the summits at the end of the season. And even after.
