Alexandre Mendy: "A personal challenge to prove myself over a third season"
Alexandre Mendy has made a flying start to the season, picking up where he left off after his superb campaign last term
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Sixteen goals in 2021-2022, 19 in 2022-2023, and already two in as many Ligue 2 games this season. Alexandre Mendy looks set to keep troubling defences. That is good news for Caen supporters, who are dreaming of a return to Ligue 1. For the 29-year-old striker, it is a continuation of the balance he has found in Normandy. He extended his contract until 2026 last July, and describes his fulfilment as a "mix of several things: fulfilment at home with my family, a stability I may have lacked in the past and the trust of an entire club".
Yet it has not all been straightforward for the Guinea-Bissau international. In his first season, in 2020-2021, he managed just 5 goals. He has since turned that around. The striker explains how he has improved. "In football, 80% is mental. Everything I do today, I have always been able to do, but the conditions were not always right for it. Once everything is going well mentally, the rest follows. Physically, it's true, I'm in a better place. Being able to do full pre-seasons, from the first day to the last, for three years now has helped me a lot. Before the 2021/22 season, it had been four years since that had happened to me…"
Increased attention
Even so, Alexandre Mendy does not want to stop while he is on a roll. Asked whether he felt capable of doing more, the Guinea-Bissau international did not hesitate."Of course! If that had not been the case, I would not have extended my stay. Then again, as a striker, it doesn't depend only on me. But it is also a personal challenge to prove myself over a third season, because there are already not many strikers who back it up over two consecutive seasons in Ligue 2 BKT… Most of the time, they prefer to leave after one season. I chose to stay after two good seasons, and I hope to do even better!"
Aware that he has stepped up a level, Alexandre Mendy can also see it in the opposing defenders. "I don't know whether they know me better, but they are marking me more closely. Compared with my first season, they are definitely paying me a lot more attention. But that is what helped me develop, vary my game and become a little more unpredictable", he admits. What about his goals this season? The striker wants his club to be at the top first and foremost. "Above all, I hope we do better than last season as a team. The top scorer award? I don't know if this is the right season to win it. If the team does well, it will go well for me too. We'll see!"