To appreciate good health, you must have experienced being sick, there is something called. This is probably also the case for Eduardo Camavinga. Today, he is portrayed as one of the most exciting footballers in the world, was in the World Cup for France this winter and earns good money to live on in Real Madrid. In the first semi-final against Manchester City in the Champions League, the youngster was one of the best players on the pitch. And that as a left-back, which he has had great luck playing this season. But the story of Eduardo Camavinga is not only about ups and downs and joy. Born in a refugee camp He was born in a refugee camp in Angola in 2002. The family lived here before they were moved to France when Eduardo was one year old. They were forced to get away from the civil war that had broken out in their homeland. One can only imagine what such an experience is like for a small child. In the small French town of Fougères, about 50 kilometers from Rennes, the Camavinga family settled in 2003. His childhood was not easy. The family could not afford it and lived in a poor area. As the third of a total of six children in the family, Eduardo Camavinga had so much energy that his mother tried to get him to start judo to get an outlet for his energy. – The first time I’ve seen But when he started training at home in their house, which resulted in him destroying and knocking over everything possible, dad Celestino decided that his son should try his hand at football at the local team Drapeau Fougères instead. It was a stroke of luck, and it quickly became apparent that Eduardo had an extraordinary talent. Jo Burel, one of Camavinga’s coaches in Drapeau Fougères, still remembers it well: – This was the first time I have seen a player with such skills. When we wanted to defend a result, we put him on defense. If we needed a goal, we put him on the attack. He had the ability to master both parts, says Burel. Camavinga, here with Rennes’ late U12 coach Didier Le bras, was quickly noticed at the French big club. Photo: Screenshot 18.11.2022 / Instagram In 2013, when he was approaching 11 years old, the cooperation club Rennes had seriously got on the field and worked to bring the great talent to the club’s academy. Then the idyll was ruined. – Think of the fire as it was yesterday. Their house, which the family had built with volunteer work only a year before, burned down and all of its belongings were lost. – I remember the fire as if it were yesterday. I was at school, and everyone could hear the fire trucks driving past. At the end of the lesson, the teacher came and told me and my little sister what had happened, says the youngster about the dramatic incident. Nicolas Martinais, who was Camavinga’s coach at Drapeau Fougères, remembers the episode well. – They lost everything. The house was like a sea of tears, he describes. Although he was not formally a Rennes player, the club helped with everything they could so that the Camavinga family would get what they needed at a time when everything looked the darkest. Eduardo Camavinga is predicted to influence world football for the next 15 years. Photo: ICON SPORT / Icon Sport – You want to build this house Camavinga’s father Celestino decided to use the fire as a kind of motivation for the zone. He put pressure on the youngster and gave a clear message that he had to do what was required to become a professional footballer. – Don’t worry, you will become a great football player, and you will rebuild this house, said the father. Camavinga confirms the story. – It is true that he told me that. I was the hope of the family, and suddenly I was motivated. My parents were already happy, but I knew I could make them even happier, Camavinga herself said about the message to her father. Eduardo Camavinga was early considered an enormous talent in Rennes. Photo: David Vincent / AP The transition to the academy in Rennes was delayed after the fire. The family’s immigration papers were lost in the flames. When he first got the contract signed and started training regularly with the French big club, the development accelerated. One month after his 16th birthday, in 2018, he signed his first professional contract with Rennes. – We just thought “wow” That made him the club’s youngest professional player of all time. The following year, he made his debut in the first team for Rennes as the youngest in the club’s history. – We just thought “wow”, says Hatem Ben Arfa, who played with Camavinga in Rennes. Ben Arfa uses one summarizing word to describe his deaf teammate: Incredible. – Technically and physically, he is a monster. Everything he does is perfect. For me, by definition, he is the modern midfielder. There is nothing he cannot do. He can defend, tackle, head the ball, create chances, score, score goals. He is powerful but technically capable with his left foot. He is intelligent, elegant. You rarely see someone play like him at his age, he says. Eduardo Camavinga quickly became the talk of the town in Rennes. The big clubs lay flat after him. Photo: JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER / AFP The battle for the signature With brilliant performances in the French top division as a 17-year-old, he was called up to the French national team by demand from both the French people and the media. That a 17-year-old plays on an A national team is rare. That a 17-year-old plays for an A national team like France, it hardly happens. But Camavinga is no ordinary boy either. He made his debut against Croatia in the national league in September 2020, aged just 17 years and nine months, thus becoming the youngest player at 96 years old to make his debut for “Les Bleus”. A month later, he made his debut as a starter for France and scored his first goal, thereby becoming the second youngest goalscorer in the history of the French national team. Eduardo Camavinga made his debut for France in record time. Photo: FRANCK FIFE / AFP Now the battle for his signature really picked up speed. Everyone was completely clear that the defensive midfielder was only in Rennes on loan. In August 2021, the news came that Real Madrid had won the battle for the super talent. For around NOK 300 million, he was picked up from Rennes and signed a six-year contract with the Spanish capital club. – Don’t know if it is possible to forgive Real Madrid securing the jewel for a sum, which in today’s football must be characterized as cheap, created several reactions. Former top player Demba Ba, who has a heart for the French big club PSG, said it bluntly: – Sorry, PSG. But I don’t know if it is possible to forgive them not signing Camavinga, Ba wrote on Twitter. Carlo Ancelotti is confident that Camavinga will be as good as everyone thinks he will be. Photo: Joan Monfort / AP It took time before he started to settle into the team. And that things take time, the youngster has not been used to in a career full of records as the youngest of all time in both this and that. – Like taking a master’s degree In the first season at the Bernabeu, there were only 13 games from the start and 13 appearances for the young Frenchman. – He has to learn quickly and gain experience, because he doesn’t have that yet, but he is only 19 years old. Every day he trains with Luka Modric, Toni Kroos or Casemiro, it’s like taking a master’s degree. Camavinga is the present and the future of this club, Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti stated after last season. There was a season with a lot of bench wear in Real Madrid after the transfer, but there were also many ups and downs. Here he kisses the Champions League trophy after the triumph against Liverpool. Photo: LEE SMITH / Reuters The monthly salary at Real Madrid will be around NOK 3 million. The father was thus right that time. Camavinga was saved for the family thanks to football. – Now that I am a professional footballer, my family has got a better life. It feels good to give something back after all the tough things they’ve been through, he says himself. – The fact that my son is one of the biggest talents in Europe… It touches the whole family, says dad Celestino Camavinga. Now awaits the hunt for a final place in the Champions League with Real Madrid. The second semi-final will be played on 17 May in Manchester. Don’t overlook the fact that Camavinga will be a man to be reckoned with there too. Sources: Marca, The Guardian, Planet football, ESPN
ttn-69
– I was the hope of the family – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
