The Aston Villa summer arrival has been great for Dean Smith and co as the Villa Park side continues to prosper in the Premier League.
Aston Villa defender Frederic Guilbert has spoken of how he was written off as a top-level player by a coach he had at Caen, before delivering a savage message in response after making it first in the French top flight and now the Premier League (The Guardian).
The 24-year-old left home at 11 to join Caen’s academy and, after six years there, suffered the disappointment of being let go, after which he joined fourth-tier side Cherbourg, where he impressed in a game against Bordeaux’s reserves.
Patrick Battiston, a France international between 1977 and 1989, subsequently brought Guilbert to Bordeaux, where he quickly rose through the ranks to become a first-team player, after which he returned to Caen, first on loan and then permanently.
Guilbert’s performances at the Stade Michel d’Ornano attracted interest from England, with Brighton one of the clubs interested in his services, and he opted to sign for Villa earlier this year, seeing out the season on loan in France before arriving in the summer to a newly promoted Premier League club.
Recalling what one of his coaches at Caen said before he was let go, he told The Guardian: “He said: ‘As far as I’m concerned, you’ll never be a top-flight player, nor even a second division player. Maybe third-rate, at best.’ That was tough. Caen was the club I loved, the place I grew up.”
When asked by the newspaper where he thinks that coach is now, Guilbert replied: “Retired? Unemployed? I don’t know. I hope he has a TV. Actually, I’ll keep a seat for him at Villa Park. I’m grateful to him.”
The Frenchman is now fully up and running at Villa after failing to make the squad for their opening two Premier League games, having begun the following eight (Transfermarkt).
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