Soccer. By signing at ASPTT Caen, Léo Hamel answered the call of the heart and reason
By Aline Chatel
Published on
If there was a list of notable moves in the Caen transfer window, Leo Hamel would probably take pride of place on the podium. The midfielder left AG Caen after seasons at the club, abandoned the resident of National 3 orphan of his captain. Léo Hamel made the choice to return a second time to his favorite club, ASPTT Caen, to which he had already turned nine years earlier at the end of his weed years.
The reflection was long and the decision difficult to make. If I left the Avant Garde, it was to return to the PTT. For many private and professional reasons, I did not see myself on the other side.
Priority to the professional
Trained at ASPTT Caen, Léo Hamel put all the parameters in the balance when deciding. AG Caen had solid arguments to put forward, on the level of play as on financial capacities, but the notion of pleasure leaned towards the postman side. “The end of last season was quite complicated from this point of view”, recognizes the tall brown. However, it is the professional parameter that makes the difference in the final decision.
My bosses offered me a new opportunity that sends me a little further from my bases. I wanted to put all the chances on my side to make it work.
At almost 30 years old, the engineer has made this third passage to the PTT with an intact ambition. “I’m not coming on pre-retirement or as a tourist. I want to make a clear commitment to the R1 project and to the club. In this approach, the former CFA player at Stade Malherbe also sees a way to “return what the PTT has been able to provide me for years”.
“I like the idea of coming back to 100%”
Léo Hamel returns in the prime of life. “When I was 19 or 20, Laurent Dufour said in a pre-game chat that it was at 29 that you were at the peak of your career. This means that I still have good years ahead of me. I like the idea of coming back to contribute 100%. “Léo Hamel combines a level of play much higher than Regional 1, even at the top of the table, and an experience on which he will be eagerly awaited.
My experience should be used for the senior team but also, I hope, for the young people. I want to be able to accompany young people as I was accompanied when I was in their place.
With Léo Hamel, the ASPTT Caen has recruited a leader. “I had to find a player capable of taking over from Pierre Sorin and Clément Pannier to support Kévin Lecacheux in a management role, explains Laurent Dufour. When the opportunity presented itself, we were all convinced that Leo was the man for the job. »
“It will be homogeneous”
So much so that this arrival combined with the rest of the recruitment and the season carried out by the PTT last year made the Caen club the most natural favorite for the rise. Léo Hamel, however, displays the greatest caution. “The status of favorite, I no longer believe in it. We were given it last season with the Avant Garde and we knew what happened. Mondeville, Flers and the MOS also recruited very well. It will be homogeneous. And passionate, certainly.
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