Official | Tahirys Dos Santos signs his first professional contract with Metz | OneFootball

FC Metz have confirmed that 19-year-old defender Tahirys Dos Santos has signed his first professional contract with the Lorraine-based club.

Dos Santos, who joined les Grenats in 2014 as an eight-year-old has signed a one-year contract, committing him to Metz until the summer of 2027.

Highly rated and respected within the club, Dos Santos was named captain of the reserves at the beginning of the season, and was named in the first team squad for a Coupe de France tie against Biesheim in December, although he did not make it onto the pitch.

The left-back’s progress was seriously disrupted, however, when he was injured in the horrific New Year’s Eve fire at the Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, Switzerland. Dos Santos was hailed a hero for re-entering the bar in order to save his girlfriend. The two of them sustained serious burns to their body.

One hundred days after the accident, Dos Santos had recovered sufficiently that he was able to return to the Metz reserve side, appearing against FC Balagne, and today’s announcement is further good news. Speaking to the FC Metz site, Dos Santos said that he was “very happy and proud … It is the culmination of several year of hard work, sacrifice and determination to achieve my childhood dream. This moment has a particular savour after the tough months that I spent in hospital. That ordeal made me stronger and taught me never to give up”.

GFFN | Jeremy Smith