Téji Savanier
Savanier with Montpellier in 2021
Personal information
Full name Téji Tedy Savanier[1]
Date of birth (1991-12-22) 22 December 1991[2]
Place of birth Montpellier, France
Height 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)[2]
Position(s) Attacking midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Montpellier
Number 11
Youth career
1998–1999 RC Saint-Georges-d'Orques
1999–2000 AS Saint-Martin Montpellier
2000–2003 Centre Éducatif Palavasien Foot
2003–2006 Castelnau Le Crès FC
2006–2010 Montpellier
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2010–2011 Montpellier B 29 (7)
2011–2015 Arles-Avignon 105 (7)
2014–2015 Arles-Avignon B 4 (0)
2015–2019 Nîmes 124 (21)
2019– Montpellier 115 (32)
International career
2021 France Olympic 4 (1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 06:40, 6 November 2023 (UTC)

Téji Tedy Savanier (born 22 December 1991) is a French professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Ligue 1 club Montpellier, of which he is the captain.

Formed at Montepellier, where he only made the reserve team in his first spell, he began his professional career at Arles-Avignon in Ligue 2. In 2015 he joined Nîmes, where he won promotion and played in Ligue 1 in 2018–19. He then returned to Montpellier.

Savanier represented the France Olympic team at the 2020 games.

Club career

Early career

Formed at his hometown club Montpellier, Savanier had only played for the reserve team when in 2011 he joined Arles-Avignon of Ligue 2.[3] His first professional goal was his only of that season, opening a 3–0 home win over Lens on 24 September.[4]

Nîmes

In August 2015, Savanier moved to fellow Ligue 2 club Nîmes on a one-year deal with a clause allowing a second season.[5] Two years later, he extended his link until 2020.[6] In 2017–18, he helped the Crocodiles to second place and promotion to Ligue 1 for the first time since 1993.[3] He and teammates Umut Bozok and Rachid Alioui made the league's Team of the Year at the Trophées UNFP du football.[7]

In 2018–19, his debut top-flight season, Savanier helped Nîmes come 9th. He led the league in assists with 14, ahead of Ángel Di María and Nicolas Pépé on 11 each, and surpassed only by Eden Hazard (15) in Europe's five largest leagues.[8] Near the start of the season he was involved in a controversy in a 4–2 home loss to Paris Saint-Germain in which he was sent off for a foul on Kylian Mbappé, who was also given a red card for pushing him in retaliation.[9]

Return to Montpellier

In July 2019, Savanier returned to Montpellier for an estimated €10 million fee, a club record.[10] He became a key part of the team under manager Michel Der Zakarian.[11]

After the retirement of 43-year-old club veteran Vitorino Hilton, Savanier succeeded him as captain of Montpellier in 2021.[12] In December that year, he was UNFP Player of the Month for his two goals and two assists.[13]

In June 2022, with one year remaining of his contract, Savanier extended it to 2026. He had been of interest to Nice and Lyon.[14] The 2022–23 season was his most prolific with 12 goals,[15] starting with two on the opening day in a 3–2 home win over Troyes.[16] He was sent off three times over the campaign; the third, in a 1–0 home win against Rennes on 23 April, earned him a three-match ban.[17]

International career

Savanier was named as one of three overage players for the French Olympic team for the 2020 tournament in Japan.[18] In the second group game, he scored the added-time winner in a 4–3 victory over South Africa.[19]

In March 2021, Savanier gave an interview to France Bleu in which he said he could equally play for Algeria – where his grandfather was born – as for France. He later clarified that his only wish was to play for France.[20]

Personal life

Born in Montpellier to a Romani family, Savanier still lives with his parents in Figuerolles, a banlieue of the city.[3][21] When he played for Arles, one hour away, he rented with his mother.[3]

Honours

Individual

References

  1. ↑ "Squad List: Men's Olympic Football Tournament Tokyo 2020: France (FRA)" (PDF). FIFA. 22 July 2021. p. 6. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
  2. 1 2 "Téji Savanier" (in French). Montpellier HSC. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 White, Adam; Devin, Eric (13 May 2019). "Téji Savanier was in Ligue 2 last year. Now he is dominating Ligue 1". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  4. ↑ "Arles-Avignon bat Lens 3 buts à 0" [Arles-Avignon beat Lens 3 goals to 0]. Le Dauphiné libéré (in French). 24 September 2011. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  5. ↑ "Football : Téji Savanier signe à Nîmes pour un an + un an" [Football: Téji Savanier signs for Nîmes for a year + a year]. Midi Libre (in French). 6 August 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  6. ↑ "Téji Savanier prolonge à Nîmes" [Téji Savanier extends at Nîmes]. L'Équipe (in French). 3 August 2017. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  7. ↑ "Le palmarès complet des Trophées UNFP" [Full roll of honour at the Trophées UNFP]. France Football (in French). 13 May 2018. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  8. ↑ "Teji [sic] Savanier termine meilleur passeur de la Ligue 1 2018-19" [Téji Savanier finishes as 2018-19 Ligue 1's best assister]. France Football (in French). 24 May 2019. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  9. ↑ "Mbappe's red reaction baffles Nimes' Savanier". FourFourTwo. 2 September 2018. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  10. ↑ "Mercato : Téji Savanier passe officiellement de Nîmes à Montpellier" [Transfer market: Téji Savanier goes officially from Nîmes to Montpellier]. France Football (in French). 2 July 2019. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  11. ↑ White, Adam; Devin, Eric (21 September 2020). "Michel Der Zakarian and Téji Savanier are making Montpellier marvellous". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  12. ↑ "Téji Savanier: "Passer après Monsieur Hilton, un honneur"" [Téji Savanier: "Succeeding Mister Hilton, an honour"] (in French). Allez Paillade. 12 September 2021. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  13. 1 2 "Ligue 1 : Téji Savanier élu joueur du mois de décembre" [Ligue 1: Téji Savanier voted December's Player of the Month]. Le Figaro (in French). 20 January 2022. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  14. ↑ "Mercato. Courtisé sur le marché, Téji Savanier prolonge son contrat à Montpellier" [Courted in the transfer market, Téji Savanier extends his contract at Montpellier]. Ouest-France (in French). 2 June 2022. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  15. ↑ "Téji Savanier: « This season, I would like to increase my assists »" (in French). Allez Paillade. 16 August 2023. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  16. ↑ Deghetto, Marie (7 August 2022). "Foot : Montpellier débute la saison par une victoire grâce à Téji Savanier" [Football: Montpellier start the season with a victory thanks to Téji Savanier]. La Gazette (in French). Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  17. ↑ Raynaud, Maxime (26 April 2023). "MHSC : lourde sanction contre Téji Savanier après son carton rouge, Kouyaté écope d'un match" [MHSC: heavy punishment for Téji Savanier after his red card, Kouyaté received one-match ban]. Midi Libre (in French). Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  18. ↑ "France names Thauvin, Gignac to Olympic squad". The Washington Post. Associated Press. 25 June 2021. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  19. ↑ "Teji Savanier's late goal lifts France over South Africa 4-3". Associated Press. 25 July 2021. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  20. ↑ "Téji Savanier : « Je n'ai jamais déclaré vouloir jouer avec la sélection algérienne »" [Téji Savanier: "I never declared that I wanted to play for the Algeria national team"]. So Foot (in French). 12 March 2021. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  21. ↑ "Le nîmois Téji Savanier ne se voit pas encore loin de ses proches" [Nîmes player Téji Savanier is never far from his relatives]. L'Équipe (in French). Retrieved 9 February 2021.
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