Bayern Munich has just inaugurated the arrival of Benjamin Pavard. He was brought from Stuttgart with a dowry of 35 million euros. He will strengthen his club until the end of the season, before coming to Munich in July.
Many people did not know him before the 2018 World Cup. People were still unfamiliar about the curly-haired right-back player on the French team that won the world cup.
Well, he is Benjamin Pavard, a French defender who was born on March 28, 1996. His father was also a football player who played until the French third division. He first played for a local club in Jeumont, at the age of six.
In 2005, at the age of 9, he joined the Lille academy. Pavard’s parents were very supportive of his career. They drove 50 kilometers every day to take and pick up Pavard from practice.
Pavard’s dedication and his parents’ supports paid off as he made his debut in the Lille’s main team on January 31, 2018. At the age of 18, he played fully in the Ligue 1 match against Nantes. Until the following season, he had been in 21 league appearances with Lille.
At the end of the 2015/16 season, Pavard’s career was at the intersection. The number of appearances in Lille felt insufficient for him who had turned 20 years old. He had a choice to play in a small role with his childhood club or looked for another chance wherever he was. He who was already a French junior national team player chose the second option.
Jumping from France’s highest caste, Pavard took the risk of moving to Stuttgart, the Bundesliga giant who was falling. That season, they had just been relegated to Division Two for the first time in 41 years. There were fears if his career might actually go down.
It turned out that Stuttgart only spent a season in the second caste. Pavard equaled the number of appearances in Lille only in a season with a German club. Utilizing his two living legs, he was played as a right-back, centre-back, defensive midfielder, even right midfielder. Outside the field, he is always supported by his parents, who always travel to Stuttgart each time Pavard goes into a home match.
In the second season, Pavard’s first season in the Bundesliga highest caste, he increasingly showed his class. He played in all of Stuttgart’s matches in the Bundesliga, not missing a single game in the season ahead of the World Cup. In that season he also began to get the French national team’s call from Didier Deschamps.
His performance at the back was really convincing, especially since the arrival of the coach Tayfun Korkut in January 2018. At that time, he was routinely used as a central defender. In four matches since February to the end of the season, Stuttgart had only conceded 10 goals in 14 matches.
The performance that continues to be maintained at club level then made Didier Deschamps took him to the 2018 World Cup. He became one of the youngest players and had the least experience in his aged 22 years and only tasted four caps.
Moreover, he did not feel inferior and immediately became a starter. Perhaps, he is the most underrated player in the early eleven of Les Bleus because he only played for Bundesliga promotion clubs. He played in all of France’s important matches at the 2018 World Cup, except for the final group game against Denmark.
Interestingly, it is not only a complement to the team. He also contributed to the toughness of the French defense which was occupied by players with minimal experience, namely Samuel Umtiti in the middle and Lucas Hernadez on the left.
There is one most iconic event when he also scored a goal which was considered one of the most beautiful goals throughout the tournament. In the quarter-final match against Argentina, he hit Nahuel Guzman with a very measurable volley. Receiving a bouncing cross from Lucas Hernandez, Pavard provided a high-tech kick which restored the French players’ confidence.
Starting from wiping out all matches with Stuttgart and then contributing fully to the world champions of France, Pavard has been considered a world class defender.
The lineup of Bayern Munich defenders who already contain Jerome Boateng and Mats Hummels will be even stronger…
