Back in Ligue 1, Le Havre combines experienced players with high-potential youngsters. In the latter category is Etienne Youté Kinkoué. The 22-year-old defender is enjoying a meteoric rise. This could give Cameroon and France ideas for calling him up to the national team...
Etienne Youté Kinkoué is undergoing a rapid learning curve. In his first season in Ligue 1, the 22-year-old central defender is a permanent fixture. As proof, he has played 17 games for Le Havre this season in the French top flight, all of them as a starter. Add to that 2 starts in 2 matches in the Coupe de France. And what's more impressive is that in the league, he played in all the matches in which he took part. On the bench at the start of the season, he played his first minutes against Lille (October 1). Then, after three games on the bench, he was back in the starting line-up against Toulouse (2-1 win, November 05). And since then, he's simply been immovable.
Etienne Youté Kinkoué is a handsome baby of 1.95 m and 91 kg. What's more, he combines above-average physical and technical qualities. This makes him one of Le Havre's key launchpads.Trained at Troyes, the young central defender quickly made his mark abroad. His first port of call was Italy, where he signed for Inter Milan (2019-2021). However, he didn't play a single game for the senior team, but did play around 60 games for the reserves. Then came Olympiakos, who offered him his first professional contract. After a season and a half, however, he only played games for the reserves. In January 2023, Le Havre came calling.France's oldest club allowed him to make his professional debut in France, playing 5 matches in Ligue 2, including 2 as a regular in the 2nd half of the 2022-2023 season. It was an opportunity for him to hone his skills and win the French second division title. Before blossoming in the 2023-2024 season.
A successful conversion
Etienne Youté Kinkoué's success as a central defender is perhaps due to his ability to read the intentions of strikers. After all, he too was a striker in his younger days."I started out as a striker and gradually dropped back. I became a midfielder and then a central defender at around 13-14 years of age. It was my coaches who forced me to move back, but in the end it was logical. In the beginning, they made me play up front because I was tall and they sent me long balls. I liked that because, thanks to my size, I often scored. But I'm not going to lie, technically it wasn't like that (smile).So I backed off and then, by playing one game after another at the back, I got used to it."Virgil Van Djik also went through the same process...The young Franco-Cameroonian's performances have not gone unnoticed. Salzburg and Frankfurt have already expressed an interest in him and in England, West Ham are keen to sign him.
Cameroon must seize the opportunity
Cameroon, which is experiencing a generational dip, needs talent to build its team of the future. Etienne Youté Kinkoué's profile and age make him a prime target for the Indomitable Lions. Even if Jean-Charles Castelletto and Christopher Wooh are talented, the fact remains that Cameroonian soccer has been looking for a defensive leader for some time now.
From Raymond Kalla to Nicolas Nkoulou, via Emmanuel Kundé and Rigobert Song, every Cameroonian team that has shone and won the AFCON has needed an immense defender at the back and at a time when nuggets are increasingly opting for African teams rather than European ones, hopes are high of snatching Etienne Youté Kikoue from the clutches of France, where he has already pulled on the U17 jersey.
