Move to Seville for development
Tanguy Nianzou made 28 appearances for FC Bayern in two seasons before moving to FC Sevilla in the summer for a fee of 16 million euros. After six appearances for the LaLiga club, he was promptly invited to the French U21 national team for the first time. “It’s a reward for the effort I put into the club. Now I play a little more. I have the opportunity to improve more,” said Nianzou im “L’Equipe” interview. “It’s an important step. Most of the players who are now on the A-Team have played here. Why not me too? That would be very nice.”
But Nianzou does not regret the move to Munich. “It was the project. FC Bayern’s project won me over,” said the central defender about his decision to leave Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer in the summer of 2020. “Like any footballer, I was disappointed because you always want to play. But it shaped me mentally and today I’m prepared for any situation. FC Bayern made me grow. Mentally it helped me to say to myself, ‘Okay, nothing can be taken for granted.’”
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Nianzou has two reasons why he didn’t get much of a chance at FC Bayern. “That has to do with the strong competition from the national players. It was great to make progress with them. I also had two serious injuries,” said the Frenchman, who emphasized that he had grown athletically in Munich. “In my game, I’m still the same. But my time in Germany shaped me. I now have a bit of the German mentality of not letting up until the end. She is different there. They’re more rigorous, up to the 95th minute, they go in there. The pressing, look at Thomas Müller, for example, he never gives up! That is Germany. Every day you train with champions.”
If you don’t raise the level at a top club like Bayern, “they won’t be mad, but they’ll have enough of you,” said Nianzou, laughing. “So you’re forced to raise your level.” Julian Nagelsmann had a particularly strong influence on him. “He taught me to make as few mistakes as possible and stay focused. I took a lot of risks in the transition game. He taught me when to do it and why. And after that, it was that constant pressing that was impressive about him. He wanted to set up this Bavarian steamroller.”
Staying at Bayern was not an option for Nianzou
However, staying was not an option for Nianzou: “There were two years in which I didn’t play much. That third year was important. The decision for Seville was the right one. I found another soccer ball. With a lot of ground play, passes and movements. Seville has a history in the Spanish league, in the Europa League, also with French players. That’s the best step to make progress.” Thanks to a return option, FC Bayern still has a back door in terms of personnel.
Nianzou hardly looks back on the past, nor does he think about what player he would have become had he stayed at PSG. “I made that choice and I became what I became. I don’t know if I would have become a regular at PSG. Look at the competition this year, with Marquinhos, Sergio Ramos and Kimpembe, also Danilo. With ‘What if…’, careers are completely redrawn. You can’t know that.”
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