Dino Toppmöller raved about Farès Chaibi four weeks ago. At this point, the Eintracht supporters’ verdict was still cautious. Yes, the 20-year-old newcomer from FC Toulouse had shown good signs in his first appearances, and his skill with the ball was immediately apparent.
But the attacking midfielder also seemed a little hesitant and his well-thought-out actions sometimes lacked impact. The Eintracht coach didn’t go unnoticed, but he dismissed the flaw as a temporary phenomenon: “Once Farès gets used to the Bundesliga a bit, he’ll get going. He is a top player.”
After his gala performance on Sunday against Borussia Dortmund (3:3), the Algerian national player has definitely arrived in the hearts of the Frankfurt fans. As a brilliant preparer and set-piece shooter, as an enforcer and running role model, for whom no path is too far to support his colleagues on the defensive.
It’s no wonder that Farés Chaibi is currently chosen by Toppmöller as an attacking midfielder – also because he harmonizes excellently with Omar Marmoush. Before the cup game this Wednesday at Viktoria Köln (8.45 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the DFB Cup and on Sky), the question is not whether Chaibi is in the starting line-up, but Mario Götze.
Free kicks like the Brazilian Juninho
But who is the new signing from Toulouse? Like world star Karim Benzema, he comes from Bron, a town seven kilometers east of Lyon. Unlike Benzema, Chaibi never attracted the interest of the big club in the neighborhood, Olympique, he played for the much smaller FC Lyon until the first division club FC Toulouse brought him in in 2019 as a player for the youth team. But in Bron, Chaibi was never forgotten.
After his first successful professional season on the Garonne (five goals and five assists in Ligue 1), which was crowned with the surprising triumph in the Coupe de France (French Cup), the amateur club hung an oversized poster with Chaibi’s silhouette on a stand wall , right next to the huge tarpaulin with Benzema’s face on it. At AS Bron, where Farès was nicknamed “Juninho” early on because he took outstanding free kicks like the Brazilian idol from Olympique Lyon, they are almost as proud of Chaibi as they are of Benzema.
“As a child, Farès already knew all the professional players, which was impressive. He always talked about football and drove us completely crazy at home,” says Ilyes Chaïbi with a smile, he is one of Farès’ two older brothers. The baby grew up in a family environment where football was omnipresent. The father played in Algeria, the country where he was born. The bigger of the two brothers – ten years his senior – is known for his good left foot, even if he never had a career. The second, Ilyes, was discovered by Evian Thonon Gaillard’s training center as a teenager and now plays as a center forward in the French fourth division.
“He thought more about the fear of failure.”
Ilyes says that his brother loves to play for the team and let his teammates shine instead of promoting himself, just like his idol Kevin De Bruyne. “When we saw him playing with the family, we would accuse him of not shooting enough on goal,” remembers Ilyes. During a game between AS Bron and Olympique Lyon, 10-year-old Farès Chaïbi slalomed through the opposing defense, was fouled at the end and was awarded a penalty.
However, he refused to shoot him. Ilyes continued: “It was in his nature, he didn’t fight to get the ball for the penalty shot. He thought more about the fear of failure than the feeling of scoring. He was the little guy who gave everything for his team but didn’t claim the glory for himself. That definitely hurt him a little.”
So from Bron he didn’t go to Olympique, but to FC Lyon, where he was noticed, but wasn’t considered the outstanding talent. “Of the eight players on the team who were scouted by a professional club in 2019, he was one of the last to leave,” explains his then coach Jordan Gonzalez. The scouts of the big clubs accused him of a certain slowness and the lack of an outstanding individual quality. “It is true that Farès was not a player who immediately stood out on the pitch,” Gonzalez added. “But he is a complete player who has the physical, mental and technical requirements to play at the highest level.”
Ralf Weitbrecht Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 6 Ralf Weitbrecht Published/Updated: Marc Heinrich Published/Updated: Recommendations: 4
Marcelo Collazos, his assistant coach at FC Lyon, praises Chaibi’s good character, his game intelligence and his passion for football. “He sleeps and eats football. He does everything he can every day to improve himself.” The New Frankfurt native also left only good memories with his last club, FC Toulouse. “His mentality was different than that of most of our players, in the sense that he never did training for fun,” says coach Philippe Montanier, who helped Fare’ break through to the professionals. “He always wanted to win every practice. His attitude was absolutely top.”
Toulouse resisted Chaibi’s move to Frankfurt for a long time, but then gave up when the transfer fee climbed into the ten million euro range. An amount that seemed relatively high last summer, but now promises to yield a good return if the three-time Algerian international continues to develop as he has so far. Dino Toppmöller is convinced of this.
