Injuries have kept him away from the field and his words are rare in the media. The interview with Presnel Kimpembe on Canal + therefore represented a small event this Sunday. Absent from the field since a clasico in February 2023, the Paris Saint-Germain defender appeared serene and smiling on the screen. He had a message to convey: his return is near. The French international has returned to team training and feels “very good”. “It’s been a long year,” admitted the man who underwent a double operation on his right Achilles tendon.
“Never in my life would I have thought that I would have gone almost two years without playing and being so patient. The only thing I wanted was to be with the team, because I had a good year and a half away. I trained when the team finished, it was a rotation, he explained. I managed to get things right: always staying as close as possible to the team by traveling to the Champions League, going to all the matches. I gave my support, they gave me theirs. And I stayed in this routine of a normal player. »
In contact with Deschamps
According to him, the “love” for his club allowed him to hold on: “Do you see the city (of Paris) how beautiful it is? It’s a love story, and I think it’s mutual. When you come from the Paris region, you train in Paris and you have the chance to play professionally in Paris… There aren’t many (who have been able to do that). »
After such a long absence, does he fear not finding a place within Luis Enrique’s hinge? “In all teams there are great players and competition. I knew her when I arrived, I still know her today. I started, there were the older ones. I played with Thiago Silva, Marquinhos, David Luiz, Zoumana Camara, Abdou Diallo…” he replied.
Kimpembe also assured that he had kept in contact with Didier Deschamps. At 29, he has not given up on the France team. “I saw him after Italy, he wasn’t happy,” he smiled about the coach. He had problems with his Achilles tendon when he was a player, he knows what it is. »
