Errors, goals and ice baths: Ismaëlo Ganiou already repaying Lens’s gamble | OneFootball

With Jonathan Gradit sidelined by a double tibia-fibula fracture, academy product Ismaëlo Ganiou, 20, has seized his chance in Lens’s back line. According to L'Équipe, his progress, alongside Malang Sarr, convinced the club to skip signing another centre-back in January.

His Ligue 1 debut brought a red card at Auxerre on four October in a 2-1 match, yet on 22 November he hit the 1-0 winner against Strasbourg at Bollaert. He then conceded a penalty at Nantes on six December, another 2-1.

Coach Pierre Sage notes rapid maturity, saying he is already ahead of five and 10 matches ago. Staff once cooled him down, now he self regulates, channelling his aggression.

Operating right or central in a back three, he defends on the front foot and still takes risks. He scored in the 3-0 defeat of Toulouse in early January, and against Rennes, a 3-1 win, his long cross led to Ruben Aguilar’s goal via Florian Thauvin.

Turned pro last summer, he sharpened his attacking game at Annecy in Ligue 2 under Laurent Guyot, often at right-back, enabled by a brief transfer to Padova due to Lens’s loan limit. Capped once by Burkina Faso in June, he has joined Sport Cover, Meïssa Ndiaye’s agency, and hopes to reach France Under-21s by season’s end, with Gradit, 33, targeted for a spring return.

Source: L'Équipe