Las cicatrices de Le Normand | OneFootball

Robin Le Normand lays bare the scars that shaped him in his memoir 'Por miedo a decepcionar', charting his Real Sociedad years and a move to Atlético Madrid that upset some La Real fans after praise for Atlético’s support. According to Diario Vasco, several chapters focus on San Sebastián.

He details an inner saboteur, anxiety at Real and vertigo, and calls Imanol Alguacil a footballing father. Mikel Oyarzabal’s Euros winner, he adds, made him happier for his team-mate than for the national side he was in.

At 14, he cried in the car on the way to a Stade Brestois trial until his parents persuaded him. A decade after his sister Lou, five, died in an electrocution accident, he tried to save her and has hated being barefoot since.

He joined Brest’s academy and played once in Ligue 2, but after four seasons was released. At 18, clubless and in tears, he earned a Real trial, impressed Imanol and stayed, later praising La Real’s tailored work and relentless video.

Early on he misread tactics amid a language barrier, even hearing 'eso es' as 'SOS'. Off the pitch came gambling from five euros to 700, poor diet and all night PlayStation. He first lived in a Hendaia tent, and later sought help from coach Imanol Ibarrondo after splitting from an agent he now calls toxic.

Source: Diario Vasco