The map doesn’t capture it. A point east of Madagascar, on the border of the Indian Ocean. French colony of Réunion, reminiscent of other times. Tropical island, life on a postcard, hard to find, harder to leave. Dimitri Paget was born there. That’s where he grew up. And he had returned there at the age of 16. At the beginning of puberty, at just 12 years old, he had already covered 10,000 kilometers for “Mama France” with the title of great talent.

After four years in the Le Havre nurseries, he returned to the idyllic base with the problematic and the inadequate. And he took it to heart as he didn’t want to talk about football anymore. He enjoyed playing in the local league but so far. And when Nantes knocked on his door again a year before coming of age, he had her locked up. It took fatherly encouragement to open it. Dad Allen, he knew, had gone through the ball too. He is also a footballer, but only up to the borders of the island, nothing more.

However, his little one has the surplus. To the this made his mind wander to make the journey again. And he succeeded. So he left one ocean for the other (Atlantic), left the measured souls of his homeland, with the reception in Nantes he became a television star. He was chosen as one of the ten to watch a documentary on French television back then (2005), a football Big Brother.

The reasons; His talent, but also the reputation of the irritating, the absurd, these were essentially the guarantors of television consumption. And manifested everywhere. Either in the field, or in marketing classes attended at the same time, or in an internship at a Lacoste petrol station.

In the third episode, he just put her on the air… tripped over an opponent in a second team game. However, the fourth ended with the coaching promise of his (professional) debut. A few minutes (just seven…) but in one in the eleven, he hit nets in the first sprint of his career.

That’s it. It gradually evolved from television star to soccer star. St. Etienne, Lille, Marseille are the consecutive stations. But always unstable, always … an islander in behavior (in Lille, for example, he tripped over his teammate Blaise Matuidi during a game for not giving him a pass), constant and undiminished talent. Juggler real with the ball at his feet, reason enough to pay a ticket to fool him with the space at his feet.

Marcelo Bielsa was the one who gave his best in his first spell at Marseille, but in the Marseille store – which he entered due to financial problems – only West Ham reacted. We said something about fame, something about age (at 29…), something that had never crossed the line, they played a part despite having left France after going to the twice in the last three seasons had risen to the top of the league 1 .

Better than Zidane

And at the same time he continued in the Premier League. “I’m not a poet who finds words for how important he is to the team“Slaven Bilic, the manager of the Hammers at the time, emphasizes: ‘Super Slav’s Man, he’s better than Zidane’, meaning his rhythmic confirmation of the London podium.

He was named Top of West Ham and finished in the top 11 in 2015/16, now being a key player at Euro 2016 with the ‘Tricolors’. But apparently it didn’t reach him. He missed Marseilles. The change of ownership with the American Frank McCourt’s purchase of the Phocaeans was the catalyst for the realization of his return to “Velontrom”, assembled in January ’17, thus ending his journey, with his CV indicating a transfer fee for parties who have exceeded a total of 66 million euros.

king in his city. That’s Marseille, that’s how it is viewed there. Submissive, courteous of those on the podium. passionate relationship. Not always love, not always cloudless. It cannot be otherwise, based on – on both sides – temperament, city, allegiance and his boss. He has grown up (on the 29th of the month he will be 35), he limits his explosions, but they are always in his repertoire.

The youngest was the one who caused chaos in the match between Marseille and Nis when a bottle thrown back from the podium of the Nicaean fans returned, leading to the chaos that followed, with their invasion kicking everything and ending the game .

The role of the dual Company father in the dressing room, boss on and off the field, with privileges that also the demanding (coaching)Kind “after all from Bielsa) Jorge Sampaoli offers, allows and guarantees.

For his run there are two (maybe more), he “pays” himself with goals and assists, of which he already has 11 in all competitions. After the first full return to Marseille (2017-18), the performance is already better than in any other season.

Nothing else is obviously needed to see how influential and catalytic he is in the Olympic game. Of course, nothing else is needed to get his capsule out. So many years on the field, never, but never won anything. Not a cup, anything, anything. He came close, playing a Europa League final – also the only one of his career – in 2018 (with his then close friend in Marseille, Costa Mitroglou), but Atletico was not played then.

The only silver lining to hunt this year is that virgin Conference League. Surely these boys in black and white at Toumba will do whatever it takes to dismiss him – and this season.