Have you seen the photo adorning our Sunday afternoon article? Defended by Fabien Causeur and Tristan Vukcevic, mustache valentine then attacked the circle of Real Madrid, during a meeting at the WiZink Center on November 7th. In a few days, his next match will be in the Kervaric hall of CEP Lorient. “Ah, so it will be there? he exclaims. “I hadn’t seen the schedule. But I know it’s going to be hard, my brother played there, I’ll be able to talk to him about it. It is sure that it will make a huge change. The Bilbao room has 10,000 seats so yes, I might see the difference. »
Because in the middle of the season, when he was far from disappointing under the colors of the Basque club of which he was the second best scorer behind the ex-Laker Andrew Goudelock, Valentin Bigote chose to leave the best European championship, La Liga Endesa, to play in National 1. As expected for several days, the STB has just formalized its signature until the end of the season. “Of course it will surprise a lot of people, that many will not understand,” he breathes. “But the main thing is that I am well in my choice. »
Already very close last summer
To understand the reasons for this surprising decision, we must first turn to the presidency of the Norman club, co-assumed by Rudy Sévi since last year. Wealth management adviser in the civilian sector, the latter had worked with the Nordiste since 2013. “We have a relationship that goes beyond the simple adviser-client relationship”, indicates the manager of Saint-Thomas, who was working on the Bigote file. since February 2021. At the time, after an uneven season at Le Mans, both in its performance and its use by Elric Delord, the former Dijon shooter had already been very close to being convinced by the five-year contract put on the table by Le Havre. “There was an agreement, unless an opportunity abroad presented itself,” says Sévi. It ended up arriving in Bilbao. “It was complicated to tell him that he was wrong to go against Real Madrid or Barça. “Especially since the Grand-Synthois had been talking for years about his desire to discover the Liga Endesa. “Playing in Spain has always been a dream. »
In Bilbao, Bigote was able to evolve with his cousin by marriage, Jonathan Rousselle
(photo: ACB Photo / A. Arrizabalaga)
So why end it prematurely, when everything seemed to be going rather well sportingly? Close to relegation last year (17th out of 19), Surna Bilbao is currently 10th in the championship, with a balanced record (10v-10d). From the top of his 11.4 units average, Valentin Bigote was no stranger to this good dynamic, he who notably chained ten games with at least 10 points between October 31 and January 23. In addition to a peak of 21 units in Murcia, the northern sniper shone against some big Iberian teams: 15 points in Badalone, 19 in Valencia, 16 against Vitoria or Gran Canaria… “I had responsibilities, as expected, I I had the confidence of the coach”, he confirms. “It’s just that things have been going a little less well recently. “A hint of homesickness, he who lived for the first time outside of France, and above all a role diluted by the recent signings of the Basque team, which could rely on twelve players. “I felt less well. I had less importance and not too much contact with the club or the coach. Maybe I needed that a little more. It’s different to be abroad, I wanted to come back to France. Rather than signing next year in Le Havre, you might as well sign now and try to experience a climb. »
“When Adrien Moerman tells you he wants you on his team…”
A tricolor nostalgia perceived by Rudy Sévi during their recent conversations? He swears that there was “nothing special”, no particular triggering moment for this turnaround. “He had his experience abroad but the project that I presented to him last year remained in the back of his mind. “However, Bigote had not especially projected himself in Seine-Maritime in recent months. “I didn’t think about it at the start of the season. It was done quite quickly, in a fortnight. »
While the Grand-Synthois has always had the reputation of being an atypical personality in the small world of tricolor basketball, Rudy Sévi has above all been able to press where it was needed. “You have to know the Bigote character,” he agrees. “He is someone with a very particular profile. It works enormously on affect. He needs to be surrounded, to be supported, to feel important to be good in his basketball. Everything he no longer had in Bilbao, therefore, where relations with Alex Mumbru were quite limited. “Also, he wants to be at the heart of a project, to be part of a climb. What seduced him was our ambition. He feels that there is something happening in Le Havre and he thinks it might be good to come and restore the image of the STB. It’s a choice of the heart, the fact of believing in our project and working with people with whom he wants to work. Already twice in the city of Édouard Philippe (with whom the club will soon have an appointment to discuss a renovation of the Docks Océane), Valentin Bigote had the opportunity to meet the coach Hervé Coudray, the assistants, the management team, to discuss with the various investors in the club… “When you have Adrien Moerman who tells you that he wants you in his team, that may have more impact than when it’s Rudy Sévi “laughs the latter.
Here facing Gran Canaria, Valentin Bigote is expected this Monday evening in Le Havre
(photo: A. Arrizabalaga)
Bored with Betclic ELITE?
There remains the crux of the problem: why National 1? Still averaging 12 points during his three seasons in Sarthe, Valentin Bigote could have played for any French club. “I had already experienced Pro A and Pro B”, he tries to explain. “With Spain, I did what I wanted to do. I didn’t want to come back to Betclic ELITE because I know it and I didn’t necessarily want to. It’s a different choice. “We must therefore surely turn more to Rudy Sévi to find out the reasons for his weariness vis-à-vis the high French level. “The Betclic ELITE system, with all its Americans, is something that kicked it less than in the past, it had come a bit to the end of the line. “Words confirmed in half-words by the player. “In some Betclic ÉLITE clubs, we are sometimes seen differently as a French player. This is also why I took the opportunity to go to Spain: to be seen as a foreign player and to have a foreign role. »
What he also risks having in Le Havre where his skills will necessarily place him at the center of the sporting equation. On the long term ? For the moment, Bigote has just signed for four months, “at the minimum union” specifies the club. But the desire to work together over several seasons is shared and an extension will be the priority for both camps next summer. “He comes to help the club and if we can catch up afterwards and give him back what he gave us, that will be very good. What is also felt through the speech of the former Nantes is the desire to forge a record, to live a real collective adventure. After eleven years of professionalism, he still hasn’t won anything and it is visibly starting to become a burden. “I never had a title, never had the opportunity to experience a climb. I would like to know that. A desire proclaimed several times during our discussion. “If they finished first in their pool, it’s because there is a real possibility of going up, even if it’s going to be tough. I hope to bring more to the team. »
With Gravelines, Nancy, Dijon and Le Mans, Bigote went around the question in Betclic ÉLITE
(photo: Sebastien Grasset)
With Valentin Bigote in its ranks, STB Le Havre will be the scarecrow of the second phase. However, if he finished Pool B in the lead (19v-7d), the Norman club will not attack his second part of the championship in the lead, overtaken by Angers (22v-4d) and Poitiers (21v-5d). “I don’t regret anything, I don’t blame anything, but today the question is: are we stronger with Valentin Bigote than without,” asks Rudy Sévi. “We discussed it with our recruitment unit, we wondered if his arrival would not bring negative things or destabilize the team, but we quickly came to the conclusion that we could not let a player like that. “And for good reason, it is legitimate to wonder if we are not dealing here with the biggest signing in the contemporary history of the National 1. Big CVs have already come to tread the floors of the third division but all were then in pre-retirement, like Mykal Riley this season, Stéphane Lauvergne or Dusan Kecman. “A player of this caliber in full force of age, I do not know if there has already been such a transfer to NM1”, advances the co-president of Saint-Thomas. Only one signature could be comparable: that of Derrick Obasohan, former top scorer for Pro A, then 32 years old, with AS Monaco in 2013. “Moving from Spain where everything was going pretty well to National 1 , of course people weren’t expecting it at all”, prefers to laugh the main interested party. “Even Bilbao, I don’t think they expected it. But that’s because no one really knows me or my personality. I thought it was the best choice and I’m really happy. “At least he was able to prepare recently, by watching the last Le Havre matches against Mulhouse or Golbey-Épinal. Still, the change of scenery is likely to be brutal… “Perhaps it will make him funny,” smiles Rudy Sévi. “He knows that Lorient is not Real Madrid’s WiZink Center. But Valentin Bigote never wanted to do like the others…
