The end of a long struggle. After nine complicated months where it was necessary to hold on morally, physically, and to keep the hope of better days, Timothée Pembélé found the smile, Monday evening, for his return on the grounds in official match, at the Bollaert-Delelis stadium, at the occasion of the Parisian victory against the amateurs of the US Pays de Cassel (0-7). Holder in the right lane in the absence of Nordi Mukiele (injured) and Achraf Hakimi, who replaced him on the hour mark, the young 20-year-old defender put aside the hard times to make a sober and without odd.
289 days separated this match from April 10, 2022, where during a victory for the Girondins de Bordeaux against Metz (3-1) at the end of last season, the Parisian suffered a rupture of the cruciate ligaments of the knee. He then began his Way of the Cross. Without a doubt, the most difficult period of his young career. “To redo a titular match with PSG makes me very happy, I especially wanted to have fun, I did it and I am happy with the victory. All my teammates and the staff helped me with that. It’s good for morale, “said Pembélé at the microphone of BeIN Sports after his return to competition.
Loaned last season to Bordeaux, where he had shown good things before his serious injury (28 games, 3 goals), Timothée Pembélé had given himself the time to come back without grilling the stages. With his entourage, he had checked the last truce linked to the World Cup to get closer to a resumption of competition. Operated by the very famous professor Bertrand Sonnery-Cottet, in Lyon, like Zlatan Ibrahimovic or Nabil Fékir before him, it was in Capbreton (Landes) that he began his rehabilitation for almost a month. Returning to Val-d’Oise last summer, he was able to count on the support of his family in times when the pain could sometimes awake, while he went back and forth between Paris and the national center of the football at Clairefontaine to follow his rehabilitation.
“He is very serious and well supervised”
In the meantime, PSG has made a vast internal upheaval, but the new management under the leadership of Luis Campos quickly reassured him of his intentions towards him. “Timothée, I see him come to work every day. He is very serious and well supervised by our medical staff. I don’t know how it will go in the second half of the season at the moment. The most important thing is that he can find sensations little by little, ”said Christophe Galtier in mid-November.
After three weeks of gradual recovery with the under-19 group, Timothée Pembélé partially resumed at the Camp des Loges with the first team in early December. Then in a complete collective session just after Christmas, when all the internationals had not yet returned from Qatar. He was then able to express himself and convince his trainer that he was on the right track.
Last week, he had already found the taste for effort in a match for a few minutes in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) against Cristiano Ronaldo and others. A first dance which therefore called for a second a few days later. The end of the tunnel, finally, for the international Espoirs (1 selection) that Thomas Tuchel had launched in Ligue 1, on November 28, 2020… against Bordeaux.