Grejohn Kyei Wide Ranging Interview with Ligue 1 : French professional footballer Grejohn Kyei who could play for the Black Stars of Ghana has given audience to the Ligue 1 in a wide-ranging interview following his successful season at Clermont Foot.
The 27-year old attacker was born in France and is of Ghanaian descent. He is a one-time youth international for France but never had the opportunity to be invited to the senior national team of the European nation.
You have six goals and one assist in your last nine games. How do you explain your return to the forefront?
“This is the reward for all the work I have done since the start of the season. It took a while to materialize but it is paying off. I think that during the March break, I had a little click when my first months were not easy.”
Indeed, following your recruitment in January 2022, you had to wait until October to score your first goal. How did you experience this period?
“It was annoying. When you’re a striker, it’s your job to score goals. But I was not more worried than that because I always got chances. It would have been more complicated if that hadn’t been the case. I worked daily to try to regain my efficiency.
I was trying to be free in my head and not only think about the goal because otherwise I would have started to thwart. It was a difficult period but I did not experience it badly.”
Subsequently, you failed to chain. Were you disappointed?
Yes and no. I had opened my counter, so obviously I hoped to continue, then I found myself not scoring for seven days (from D11 to D17). I was shooting at the goalkeeper, I didn’t get on target… I said to myself: “It’s not possible. I can’t do that, it has to change.
“Afterwards, I found my way back to the net against Rennes, then we chained matches against leading teams and I went through another period without a goal (from J19 to J28). I had fewer chances and I also had a goal disallowed against OM… Then this famous truce happened.
I made a point. I said to myself that I had to keep in mind what I had done well to stay in the positive, forget these little relapses, and I started to continue.”
What role does Pascal Gastien play in this return to the fore?
“He gives me confidence with his staff. He takes the time to seek explanations for the way I handle certain situations. Since I arrived, he has always been behind me, he has never let me down.
I don’t need a coach to show me affection, but when things are not going well, I need to be reassured and to know that he is counting on me. If people start pushing me aside or not talking to me, I’m going to get frustrated and wonder. Am I doing things right? What does he think of me? It’s difficult when a coach says nothing but this is not the case with Pascal Gastien.”
What role does he ask you to play on the attacking front?
“I try to help the team when we don’t have the ball. When we recover it, I have to be available to quickly touch a teammate or keep it. Then, when we attack, I try to go deep or pick up to help the team.
That’s what the coach wants. I play an important role in the creation of actions. I’m not only focused on the goal, I have to make myself available in the game.”
Do you feel ready to join the line of successful attackers from Clermont Foot?
“Of course ! When the club contacted me, I looked a bit at its history: Gaëtan Laborde, Ludovic Ajorque, Mohamed Bayo, Florian Ayé… And I just played with a very good friend of Florian Ayé at Servette, Moussa Diallo , and I discussed with him on this subject. He said to me: “Over there, the attackers score a lot! “I told myself that it could only be good for me and that it was the right time and the right place to come back to France.
And that is true today since I am having my best season in France. Next year, I hope to do better and continue my momentum.”
To talk about your career, unlike many players who step back to explode, you went from midfield to attacker. What is the genesis of this choice?
I even started as a central defender before advancing over the seasons. Then I played six and eight and was projecting a lot forward. I did a lot of tests at these positions but they were never conclusive.
My coach from Villiers-le-Bel then told me that as I liked to project myself, I just had to give it a try in attack. So I went to Meaux for a tryout, where I signed up as a striker even though I had never played in that position. The trial went well, I scored goals as if I was a striker (laughs).
The U17 coach and the director of the training center appreciated my profile, I went to do an internship in Reims and I was taken. Like what you should never give up (laughs).”
So you had to learn the role of striker on the job when you arrived at the Stade de Reims training center?
Before arriving, I knew nothing about the role of striker. My first year was complicated, I went from two to seven training sessions a week and I had to play attacker when I was not… I found myself scoring two goals in the season and I almost got fired . I was often too low on the pitch, I was not very present in front of goal and I missed it.
The following year, I hung on, then I started to feel better in this position. But the coaches never knew it wasn’t my job. I kept it to myself (laughs). And it served me because I think that without it, I would never have turned pro.”
What have your midfield qualities given you as a striker and, conversely, how have they harmed you?
“I think it helped me with ball retention and vision of the game. I sometimes behave like a midfielder in certain situations.
This is why I will sometimes help the players in the middle. I think I participate in the game a little more than a player who has always been an attacker. Conversely, if today I don’t score a lot, it’s because I’m not a killer enough. For example, against Auxerre, I had an opportunity that I must not miss.
I made a bad strike when for many attackers, in this type of situation, it’s a string. It’s something that I have a hard time erasing. Of course, I have improved compared to the past, but I think it is still lacking for me today.”
A label of hope has stuck to your skin for a long time at the Stade de Reims. How did you live with this?
“I didn’t really think about it. I wanted to confirm this status but we will say that everything did not happen as people imagined. When I made the choice to go to Switzerland, it was precisely to get rid of this label. There, nobody knew me, I arrived as a new player.
I had to prove myself but I had less pressure compared to my previous experiences, because even when I was not necessarily playing in Reims or during my loan to RC Lens, people were talking about me. It forged me.”
Where did this label come from?
“With the young people, things went well. I had participated in the epic until the final of Gambardella and it must have worked. In addition, as soon as I started playing pro, I scored quite quickly against Rennes and Paris Saint-Germain. So, everything went quickly, we quickly talked about me.
The following year, I got off to a good start again and found myself in the France Espoirs team. All of this led to me having this label.”
You mentioned your departure for Switzerland. Can you tell us how your time at Servette freed you up?
“It did me good in terms of playing time, automatism, rhythm, confidence, joy of scoring, pleasure… Before that, I had actually only played one season at more than 20 full matches with Michel Der Zakarian at Stade de Reims in Ligue 2 BKT.
So, going to Switzerland, it did me a lot of good. In addition, at 24, I was at a turning point in my career. But I managed to recover. I was in my cocoon and I could work calmly to try to get back in the bath.”
Were you able to fully discover the attacking position there?
“Somehow ! I learned to know how to manage matches, to be a little more of a finisher, and therefore to really discover myself as an attacker. I repeat: as I had never really achieved a full season, I had no reference on which to base myself.
I also saw that when you score, you are the hero and when you don’t score, it’s all your fault. It also forged me on that. Then, the championship is less publicized, so you pay less attention to the networks. You are identified less, you are criticized less, and it allows you to be more liberated.”
What you failed to be at the Stade de Reims…
“Despite my many seasons at the club, I did not manage to click. Even when I found myself under the orders of David Guion, my former coach in the CFA, I did not have the click that I should have had. And I know that it is also a regret for the coach for not having succeeded in blowing me up. Maybe at some point I had also withdrawn into myself.
The year we were relegated to Ligue 2, I could have left the club, it didn’t happen and I took it badly. The club wanted me to help them get back up, I’m not going to say I disagreed, but I wanted to continue my progress.
As a child of the club, I thought that the leaders were going to let me harden myself elsewhere. I had a hard time accepting it and took it badly for a long time. I got stuck on this passage.”
The second season of Stade de Reims in Ligue 2 BKT had however allowed several young people from the club like Rémi Oudin or Jordan Siebatcheu to win with David Guion. You didn’t want to imitate them?
“The problem is that I was there without being there. I do not know how to explain it. Even with the coach, things did not go as we would have liked. It was different compared to the training center. I was no longer the little one, the coach had to have results and he couldn’t wait for me to click. If the team wins without you, you’ll stay on the sidelines. But I couldn’t understand it.
I was young and stubborn. As a result, the others moved forward and I stagnated. I would have preferred to be part of the adventure. (He recovers himself) I was part of it but not 100%. However, the whole club did everything to remobilize me and make me succeed, but that didn’t do it… After a while, I felt that I really needed a change of scenery and to leave everything to relaunch my career.”
“Lens? This is the club where I had the most emotions.
Is your goal against AC Ajaccio, which offered the rise to Ligue 1 Uber Eats at Stade de Reims, your best memory to date?
“I would rather say that it is our epic in the Gambardella Cup. It was a great adventure between friends, it marked me. Afterwards, from a more general point of view, the RC Lens was not bad (smile). We had a huge audience in Ligue 2 BKT.
I remember during the play-off against Paris FC, we thought we were at home. It’s a different club. Win or lose, the fans were always behind the team. In addition, we had almost gone up, we were only a few goals away… I think this is the club where I had the most emotions. It’s a pity that at the time I did not manage to pass a milestone there.”
To come back to your good end to the season, on what points do you still need to improve? Pascal Gastien says that you still have a level to cross in terms of efficiency.
“I totally agree with him! I will talk about my action against Auxerre but it largely reflects my lack of sharpness in the last gesture. I’m going to do good things upstream but when the last gesture arrives, I’m still missing something. Another example comes to mind.
In Nice, I do a good action, then I shoot at the post. I really need to take a leap on this. I work every day for, I try to watch the behavior of other attackers, but it is also a mental aspect.”
How do you work to improve your efficiency?
“At every opportunity in training, I try to make the best choice. But the problem is that sometimes I ask myself too many questions. For example, I’m going to want to put the ball so badly in the corner that I’m going to shoot wide when, often, I should just be on target.
I think too much about the right gesture while some less academic ones are effective. Even if I am aware that in certain situations, if I frame, I score, I tend to complicate the task…”
Do you talk about it with the coach?
“Not really. But lately, I’ve been trying to ignore everything and not ask myself too many questions in front of goal. I no longer say to myself: “Do I put it there? I look at the keeper and aim for a spot that seems ideal.
Afterwards, I discussed with the coach the surface of the foot to be used in front of goal and I changed my way of hitting. I pull less from the instep, I use the inside of the foot more to frame even more. Today, a ten-goal striker is good, but it’s not enough.
We see it in Ligue 1 Uber Eats, a lot of attackers are more than 15 goals away: Openda, Lacazette, Mbappé, Wahi, Balogun… And I say to myself: “Why not me? “In the future, I want to join this list. I’m only 27, it’s not too late!”
But is the goal an obsession for you?
“No… I’m divided on that because thinking only about that doesn’t make you score any more and, above all, leads to making the wrong choices. The most important thing is to help the team in the game and to be well placed to complete the actions.
Afterwards, it’s up to me to know how to do the right things at the right time! I know that in every game, I will have chances. If I have one, I have to do the right thing, if I have four, I also have to know how to do it each time.”
Do you try to set yourself challenges in training to improve on this?
“Sometimes I do challenges with other players during the sessions. Most often it is with Muhammed Cham. As we get along very well, we put something in place in each session in front of goal. Whoever scores less must pay something to the other. And I often win! But he has a very good striking technique.
We have also been neck and neck for a long time to be the club’s top scorer and I was keen to overtake him (smile). It can happen to me to also make challenges with Jérémie Bela or Komnen Andrić when we make oppositions.”
You are also close to Mory Diaw. Does he give you advice on the behavior of guards?
“We talk a lot about our respective positions. If an attacker makes an interesting move, he will tell me about it, detail how he hit or he will ask me if I would have done the same thing. Conversely, if a goalkeeper stops one of my shots, I will talk to him about it.
We often have these discussions in the locker room but also on Instagram. If I see a specific video around the goalkeepers and him attacking gestures, we send them to each other and then we exchange on it. It’s nice to be able to play together because we’ve known each other for a long time and, in Switzerland, he was playing with the enemy, in Lausanne.”
Finally, is the Ghanaian selection in the back of your mind?
“Yes ! Afterwards, for the moment, I have not really been contacted, even if my entourage was approached before the World Cup. I know I’m being watched but I’ve never received a pre-selection. This is my next challenge.”
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