GFFN 100 | Why Brest’s Pierre Lees-Melou is our 2024 winner | OneFootball

“The step is too big,” said Pierre Lees-Melou earlier this year. Prior to the 2023/24 season, you would perhaps think that the Frenchman was referring to his brief and ill-fated stint at Norwich City, not a call-up to the France squad.

But that was the context in which Lees-Melou found himself in the run-up to Euro 2024. Calls for the former Norwich City and OGC Nice man to be handed a place in Didier Deschamps’s squad grew as the end of the Ligue 1 season neared. “He is exceptional, he hovers over the team and over Ligue 1,” began his manager, Éric Roy. “For me, in the position he plays, there is no equivalent in France. He plays everywhere and even deserves a call-up.”

The clamour for his inclusion was not unwarranted, however, it was Lees-Melou himself who fixed his own limits. “I’m not thinking about it. To be honest, I have never even dreamed about it because the step is too big,” began Lees-Melou in an interview with Télégramme.

He added, “It was already a dream to become a pro. The manager (Roy) went a bit far (laughs). I’m not thinking about a call-up and I don’t think I’ll be there (in Germany for Euro 2024). For me, there is no debate.”

League-best figures

It was a self-assessment that felt somewhat harsh given what he achieved with Brest last season. He was brought back to Ligue 1, not to guide a club of the ventre mou – at best – into the Champions League but that is exactly what he did. Roy’s side’s formidable achievement with Les Ty-Zéfs has been attributed to a work-man-like quality, hard running and excellent organisation. The collective was emphasised – and rightly so – but there was a standout figure in this side and he goes by the name Lees-Melou.

The statistics reflect that: no player in Ligue 1 won more tackles, whilst he also finished sixth across Europe’s top five divisions in this metric; no player tackled more dribblers (49); and he made the second-highest number of blocks in Ligue 1. Out-of-possession, he was a cheat code – an embodiment of the work-man-like principles that Roy and Brest have become renowned for yes, but more than that. His execution and focus in defensive phases across the campaign was unmatched in Ligue 1.

But he had his upside in possession too, drawing the fifth-highest amount of fouls, whilst also netting four goals across the campaign. In deeper positions, he was press resistant, allowing his side to progress and transition and in more settled phases of play, he glided across the pitch, often playing the role of deep-lying distributor, keeping things ticking by and large but also knowing when to accelerate the play and look to be more incisive.

No individual across Ligue 1 was as focal to the success of the collective as Lees-Melou was to Brest as the Breton club what they had never done in their history – qualify for European football. It was a fairytale, one that defied all expectations.

‘Like a fine wine’ – Lorenzi on Lees-Melou

But individually, for Lees-Melou, it was an enticing redemption arc. His time in the Premier League seemingly showed a ceiling but in the latter end of his career, he has broken through that ceiling. “When you’re a player, it is difficult to be judged for six months or one season. He had this experience in the Premier League in Norwich, with perhaps some highs and lows, but I think what is important for a player is perhaps being in an environment that best corresponds with his mindset and mentality,” Brest’s sporting director Grégory Lorenzi told us in an exclusive interview earlier this year.

Perhaps Lees-Melou better suits being the big fish in the somewhat smaller pond. “It’s true that since Lees-Melou has been with us, he is the same player but the environment around him perhaps suits him better and that means that he is enjoying himself more, and that shows on the pitch […] he’s like a fine wine,” added Lorenzi.

Elected Get French Football News’ Player of the Season for 2023/24, Lees-Melou had suitors in the summer as, in the latter stages of his career, he sought to reclimb the ladder. Rennes were reportedly interested but a major injury in the final weeks of the season put paid to any departure, to a call-up to the France squad, and also to his participation in the start of Brest’s European adventure.

He missed the first six games of the Ligue 1 season with a broken fibula, as well as the first two Champions League encounters. Whilst his absence was not so strongly felt in the Champions League, a competition in which Les Ty-Zéfs have thrived, it was felt in Ligue 1 as Roy’s men lost four out of their first six league games.

Injuries thwart Lees-Melou

Without him, Brest lacked control and looked particularly vulnerable in transition in situations that Lees-Melou invariably snuffed out. His return was felt too: an element of control returned as his return coincided with Les Ty-Zéfs’ best run in Ligue 1 (three games unbeaten, including two wins), whilst he also announced himself on the European scene as he netted a volley to equalise against Bayer Leverkusen on his Champions League debut.

His performances at the pinnacle of European football contradict Lees-Melou’s belief that Les Bleus would have been a bridge too far. But it wouldn’t last. Lees-Melou would once again succumb to an injury, leaving the Stade Louis II on crutches at the end of November. He has not featured since but is expected to return early in 2025.

Ligue 1 is known for breeding top talents, however, the league also has a knack for reviving them. Lees-Melou’s mid/end-career revival is perhaps the most spectacular, and in the absence of a leading star in France’s top flight in the wake of Kylian Mbappé’s departure, he is worthy of our award. The protagonist of Brest’s fairytale, 2024 belonged to Lees-Melou.

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GFFN | Luke Entwistle