Before the head-to-head: Philippe reveals why he chose HSV over Mainz | OneFootball

Rayan Philippe gradually established himself at HSV. Yet, this summer he almost ended up at their upcoming opponent, Mainz 05.

The deciding factor was the survival of his then-employer, Eintracht Braunschweig, who managed to stay up after the relegation playoff against 1. FC Saarbrücken (2:0/2:2 a.e.t.), with Rayan Philippe contributing a goal in the second leg. Even back then, he and his camp were in close contact with FSV Mainz 05. “It was really close. I had already spoken with coach Bo Henriksen. He’s a very convincing, cool guy and I think he’s a good coach,” the Frenchman reported (via Bild).

But because BTSV managed to stay up, Philippe—who scored a total of 13 goals that season—was no longer available on a free transfer, so Mainz backed away from a deal. The 24-year-old took the failed move in stride: “I said to myself: Okay, that happens. If you’re good, good things will keep happening. That’s football.” Shortly after, as is well known, HSV got in touch and signed him for a fee of around 2.5 million euros.

Philippe is gaining momentum

“During the decisive conversation, I was on vacation with my family near Nice, sitting in front of my laptop with a view of the Mediterranean. The coaches showed a PowerPoint presentation. I liked what I saw and heard. And after one meeting, it was clear to me that I wanted to come here. It’s about the feeling, about what they had planned for me and in general in the Bundesliga. And so far, everything has worked out,” Philippe said about his talks with coach Merlin Polzin and his French-speaking assistant Loic Favé.

At first, however, the new signing struggled with the increased demands that came with Hamburg’s promotion. He failed to impress in the friendlies and lost his expected starting spot to Emir Sahiti. But Philippe fought back, already showing promise in the second half against FC Bayern and scoring his first goal in the home match against Heidenheim (2:1). Even in the draw in Berlin, he was one of the key players—despite conceding an unnecessary penalty early on.

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From the player’s perspective, this development was hardly surprising: “I trained hard during pre-season and knew that the first few games would be tough because I was a bit tired at the time. That’s often been the case for me in recent seasons. But that’s also why I knew I’d get better afterwards.” So Philippe should be expected to feature again on Sunday (5:30 p.m., DAZN), as he sees the match against Mainz 05 as a “special situation” and will surely want to prove that investing in him was the right decision.

(Photo: Getty Images)

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.