"Last year, when I saw the camera, I would run away. The big smile and the touch of humour with which Hicham Boudaoui contemplates the passing of time says a lot about his evolution. It also says a lot about his hindsight and his daily life where, as on the field, his personality is his biggest asset. At 21 years old and ahead of his third season in Nice, Hicham still runs, but no longer when he sees the club's camera, or when he is handed a microphone. It's a good thing: before leaving Divonne-les-Bains, he stopped by for a while to talk to us about the Gym, his life and his ambitions.

With him everything has a meaning. Words, that are no longer so rare, as well as when he doesn’t talk. Everything, including the tone of his voice and the rhythm of his sentences. The way he says them, and speaks so gently. At 21, "the Prince of Béchar" does not feel "young anymore".

On the pitch, he was African champion in 2019, he has 42 games with the Gym, 5 goals and 5 assists, at the beginning of his third year in the Comté: "It's not enough, in his own opinion. I have to do more, do better. "Behind this objective there is a small silence. Hicham welcomes it. When he is told, in return, that some of his performances last season (Lens, Paris, Rennes, Marseille, Montpellier...) were unanimously praised, he speaks once with a calm smile. "In my head, I know that I can do better. I have to score more, be more decisive, and above all do everything I can to avoid injuries and to be able to play the whole season. That means a lot of work and that's good because I love working. The only match where I was 100% comfortable since my arrival was at Rennes. There, I felt like I was at Paradou, where I was putting in a series of performances. In all the others, I assure you that there was more to do."

 

“In Algeria, they never talked to me about fitness"

At Roazhon Park on 26 February, the Crédit Agricole Young Player of the Season for the past two years shone in a 1-2 win for Les Aiglons. Coach Ursea hailed 'a simply monstrous match'. Playing in the No.8 position in the middle of the park and even pushing forward as a second striker in certain passages, he dominated the match, both defensively and offensively, earning the penalty converted by Amine Gouiri.

Attacking or defending, don't ask him to choose: Hicham "likes both, as long as I leave the field exhausted..." A remark that he completes with a precise explanation: "I like both and I like the centre of the pitch. 6, 8, 10: it doesn't matter, but it's really where I feel good. I learned on the wing during my first season in Nice, but it was not a position I knew. At the heart of the game, it's something else..." The heart of the game, a realm where his engine - praised by all the Club's coaches - offers him the lucidity to make the difference. "In Algeria, you know, they never talked to me about fitness," he laughs. "I was just a technical player. It was here that people started to tell me that I had good results in fitness tests. Maybe people remembered that because in the first year I wasn't comfortable with the ball. I had a hard time adapting. So to compensate, I gave everything, because that's the least I could do. Attacking, defending, running: as soon as I joined Paradou's U21 team, I started to do it naturally. It just came to me, I can't really tell you why."

"WE DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT TO HAVE A BAD SEASON"

Selected with Algeria in June, Boudaoui has had an adapted recovery. He joined the group in Divonne on Sunday 18 July. And directly integrated the group sessions. He discovered coach Galtier and his method. The training sessions are very different," says the midfielder. Many things have changed, starting with the system we are working on, which is no longer 4-3-3 but 4-4-2. We work a lot on pressing, working back and the way we slide. There are a lot of tactics, the coach asks for a lot of aggressiveness and intensity.

This Friday, the group leaves Divonne for Austria, where its 5th preparation match against Union Berlin awaits (kick-off Saturday at 4pm). The first for which Boudaoui will be "at the disposal of the coach" since his return. He will then play in a final rehearsal against AC Milan (31 July at the Allianz Riviera), followed by the return of Ligue 1, on 8 August at home against Reims. "I really hope that we will have a good season. And most of all, we don't have the right to have a bad one. Last year was not good enough. We have to have big goals and, personally, I hope to help the team achieve them. Whatever the case is, I'm doing everything I can.

Behind this ambition, the camera lowers and the microphone cuts out. Hicham stays for long minutes on the terrace of the Domaine de Divonne, talking about various things. About his friends, his family, his house - in which he has been living for several months, after sharing Youcef Atal's flat -, the chef who takes care of his meals, the national team, the CAN, the World Cup, the Gym, Nice. During these exchanges, he was reminded that last year, in the same place, in an interview with Nice-Matin, he had declared: "I feel good here. To be honest, I would like to spend my whole career at OGC Nice". He replies with a twinkle in his eye. "A year later, I still think the same thing. I could stay my whole life here. I'm at home. I want to work here. I feel good, that's the most important thing."

After these last words, silence. Boudaoui gets up and returns to his room, after having greeted everyone with humility. He looks to the future with wisdom, confidence and determination.

C.Djivas
Photos : J-M.Ponte.

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