Trained in Montpellier, Younès Belhanda said this Tuesday on RMC how he wanted to return to Hérault to bring his experience. But the attacking midfielder had no return from the club just relegated to Ligue 2.
Happy in Al-Shamal SC in Qatar where he signed in January 2024, Younès Belhanda was released from a three-way season and seven assists in 27 appearances. At 35, the Moroccan international likes in the Gulf and does not imagine returning to Europe. Even if the idea of a return to Montpellier could have interested him before being snubbed by the Hérault club.
“Return to a major championship? No, not especially. After Adana I had this Qatar offer. I almost returned to Montpellier, finally I almost came back … I wanted to come back when I saw that they were in difficulty. But it did not go,” revealed the former playmaker of the Hérault club during his visit this Tuesday in the show Rothen ignites On RMC. “It was after Adana, in January (2024), I saw that the club was in difficulty so I sent a message to Laurent (Nicollin) and I said that I could come to help even six months if he wanted to see my level. I said he could give me what he wanted but I did not get back. I did not have a return …”
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“At the budget level, I told him to give me what he wanted”
Still bitter on this aborted return, the one who won Ligue 1 in front of the QSI PSG version in 2012 still does not know why he did not have a response to his proposal.
“The worst part is that there was no reason, no message. Even if he says no, that they can't … I will even tell you, at the budget level, I told him to give me what he wanted,” added the colors of kyiv, Schalke or Galatasaray.
Before clarifying: “I had left on good terms, I was still on good terms with Laurent Nicollin. But I don't know if it is he who decides there or if it is someone else who makes the decisions.”
Belhanda denounces “wages as we have never seen” executives
Frustrated to have been deprived of a return to his heart club, the one for which he believes he has given a lot, Younès Belhanda also accused the blow after the 2024-2025 campaign of the Héraultais in Ligue 1.. An exercise that led the club straight to Ligue 2.
“The season is catastrophic. Especially since it was 50 years, you celebrate the 50th anniversary and you fall in Ligue 2.. And when I hear the interviews of Cabella and Stambouli who also wanted to come back … You say to yourself. When you see what Cabella did in Lille, you tell yourself that you could not have had it with you this year in Montpellier?” of the Atlas. “I do not think that it is the problem of having less money because they distributed it, money. I can tell you, there are big wages as we have never seen when we were champions of France.”
And to tackle the new generation: “(Savanier, Khazri for example?) There are several. After you type in the frames and you will see the wages. I think they came out in the press and I think it may be a story of jealousy at the idea of seeing ancients come back. Perhaps, I don't know …”
Belhanda claims change in the organization chart
Calling for a deep overhaul of Montpellier's workforce to leave its healthy bases, Younès Belhanda also hopes to see his darling club seriously restructure. As the 35-year-old playmaker recalled, some historicals may have had their time in Hérault.
“In terms of recruitment, of the sports director, you have to have a new eye. Football it changes, you have to go with your time, you have to renew and have a new eye from outside. There are people who have been there for more than 15 years with the same structure and you see that it does not advance,” finally tackled the player at the microphone Rothen ignites. “Montpellier it's been four or five years well (whether it's not going well). I think Michel Mézy he has dropped a little. He is no longer like before with Loulou. It is Loulou's old guard. But the new generation that happened, when you see that it does not work, try to renew and try to have an external eye in Montpellier. You have to see something else.”
