Costil, a gamble and an upset hierarchy

It’s official, Benoît Costil signed a three years contract in favour of Stade Rennais this Tuesday after undergoing the medical. For the man from Calvados, this move is synonym to return in Ligue 1, three years after he left the top flight to toughen up at a lower level.

Turning into a might have been

For years, Costil waited at the Stade Malherbe de Caen with his status of future great. Selected in all the youth national teams of France - with the famous generation 1987 - he struggled to find his place in professional football, suffering with the specificity of the goalkeeper position.
For years, the Lower-Normandy youngster remained in the shadow of Vincent Planté, only earning limited opportunities to shine in the Caen shirt. In 2008, the Stade Malherbe decided to loan him to Vannes in order to gain first-team experience. This is where Costil first met Christophe Revel, who will soon become his coach. At the VOC, the players would share the competitions: Costil played in Ligue 2 and Revel took the gloves for the cups. The Caennais would therefore witness the exploits of Revel in the Coupe de la Ligue, allowing the club from the Morbihan to reach the final in the Stade de France.

Back in Caen, Costil faced a major setback. With Planté out in Saint- Étienne, he seemed the obvious choice to take over as first goalkeeper, but was finally left on the side to the profit of Alexis Thébaux, previously behind him in the hierarchy of Caen goalkeepers. The Caen-born would never be keeping the goals for the club of his home town, “The disappointment was more than huge, Costil recognized later, talking to website sportacaen.fr in April. The first person responsible for the failure is myself. I thought I could rest on my natural ability, I didn’t work enough. I took a slap across the face and I realised this isn’t the way things work. People didn’t make things easy for me either…”
Replying to the wake-up call, he took himself back up after leaving his Normand cocoon. He soon left for Ligue 2 and Sedan, where he signed for two seasons under Landry Chauvin’s management. As in Vannes, he became the first-pick goalkeeper and managed to good seasons, receiving some reward in the process: nominated for the UNFP’s best Ligue 2 goalkeeper trophy in 2009/2010, he finished second to Brest’s Steeve Elana, but won the award the following season.

«Sedan, the last step before Ligue 1»

At the term of his contract, he gets ready to come back to Ligue 1 with solid credentials, in order to continue a career that was expected to be brilliant but brought him to a few sideways. “When I signed for Sedan, I considered it the last step before Ligue 1, Costil affirms. I did wait a lot, hoped a lot in Caen, now I want to get a move on, seize the opportunities and have no regret. I am very ambitious”.
Ambitious enough to snub Marseille, who only proposed him a position as second keeper, and prefer the Stade Rennais looking for a replacement to Nicolas Douchez.

Meanwhile, the Breton club seized the opportunity to minimise the economic impact of the former first goalkeeper to Paris. This summer, the free agent departures of Marveaux and Douchez are clearly leaving many wondering, following the Sow episode that triggered retrospective incomprehension from most observers of French football.
Also a free agent, Costil is therefore joining the club without Stade Rennes having to pay any sort of fee to Sedan. Without criticising or hindering the promising young keeper, it has to be said that he wasn’t the first choice of the coaching staff, who aimed at more experienced keepers such as Stéphane Ruffier (Monaco) or David Ospina (Nice). But facing the excessive demand from their employers, Rennes - who had an urgent need to establish a hierarchy at the goalkeeper position – could not afford to wait for any of the clubs from the Cote d’Azur to make concessions.
Consequently, Rennes are decided to gamble on Costil, hoping to see a brilliant Ligue 2 goalkeeper turn into a quality player at the highest level. Although it sounds risky at first sight, this gamble isn’t as dangerous as it could seem. First because many Ligue 2 elements have shown, over the last few years, that they could do it as well in Ligue 1 (Rennes hold a very good example with Kana-Biyik’s last season), but also because the Rennes recruitment unit - led by a former illustrious goalkeeper Pierrick Hiard – rarely faulted when it came to this position over the last few seasons.

Confidence in Diallo

The biggest loser in this deal, Johann Carrasso will probably be temporarily forced out of Birttany. Considered not ready enough after mixed performances last season and two years without being a first choice keeper, the former Montpellier man will be loaned to gain some playing time and confidence in a Ligue 1 (Toulouse, Ajaccio, Nice ?) or Ligue 2 (Sedan ?) club. Enough to get him back on track, test him, and allow the possibility of shaping a new hierarchy in 2012-2013.
Conversely, Abdoulaye Diallo who comes out of a rather difficult season sees his status upgraded with a role as number two that seems promised to him. A clear mark of confidence from his training club, at only 19. Remained in the shadow of Douchez and Carrasso in 2010-2011, Diallo will this time be in the front row to cover for any absences of Costil.

- Photo: sportacaen.fr