Glad to stay in Le Havre
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Étienne Youté Kinkoué no longer seems to be bothered by the fact that the transfer to TSG Hoffenheim failed in the summer. The central defender emphasized in an interview with Transfermarkt.fr that he was even happy to have stayed at Le Havre AC. “We’ll have to see how the rest of the season goes, but I’ve found a stability that I didn’t have last year. Although I played a lot of games, I wasn’t called up for the French national team,” explains Youté Kinkoué.
The central defender’s achievements were rewarded with his debut for the French U21 in mid-November. “Even though the team’s start to the season was complicated, it shows that I made the right choice and that the work is paying off,” continues Youté Kinkoué, who was also rewarded by his club in September with an early extension until 2026. He still needed another season in Ligue 1 “to gain more experience.”
The 1.96 meter tall defensive giant was also traded at the Premier League clubs Nottingham and West Ham, but things really got concrete with TSG Hoffenheim. The transfer for a fee of 6 million euros was imminent, but failed. On the one hand, the French media said that Youté Kinkoué did not want to accept the offer, although Le Havre was ready to accept the offer. On the other hand, “Sky” reported that new demands had been made that Hoffenheim did not want to meet, which is why the club had withdrawn from poker.
Youté Kinkoué doesn’t want to go into the exact reasons. “It was supposed to happen, but there were two or three misunderstandings. “It was about details,” he says. The Hoffenheim team had to reorient themselves several times when looking for reinforcements in central defense; shortly before the transfer deadline, TSG secured the duo Robin Hranac (24; Viktoria Pilsen) and Arthur Chaves (23; Académico Viseu) for a total of 14 million euros. Youté Kinkoué answered in the affirmative whether a move to Germany or England would appeal to him. “Short or long term, I don’t know, but it’s a goal.” For the time being, he feels very comfortable in Le Havre.
Youté Kinkoué feels very comfortable in Le Havre
“It is a family club. “So we are more relaxed and calmer,” says Youté Kinkoué, who went abroad to Inter Milan and Olympiakos Piraeus at the age of 17. At the beginning of 2023 he returned to France and was promoted directly to Ligue 1 with Le Havre. “There were too many players in my previous clubs. You couldn’t respond to every single person. Here I work more on my weaknesses. You do a lot of work individually, with video, in the hall or on the pitch. Everything is done to ensure the players are successful.”
The club from the port city on the English Channel managed to finish 15th in the table last season despite a small budget. Relegation, Le Havre is currently in 16th place in the relegation zone. But Youté Kinkoué is fully convinced by the coach Didier Digard, who was hired at the start of the season. He is “closer to the players. So if he needs to tell you something, he will tell you. Maybe that was what I was missing before. He boosted my confidence. With him I have made progress in terms of concentration over the entire duration of a game and the influence. I am more aggressive in duels, be it on the ground or in the air. “I was missing that before,” said the defender, who still sees room for improvement, for example when it comes to the goal threat. “If the coach tells you that you can play freely, without stress and that you won’t be restrained on the pitch, it’s easier.”
