Soungoutou Magassa fortunately has enough friends he can converse with in French at West Ham United as the former Monaco midfielder looks to settle into Premier League life.
Now, not every player opts to learn a new language when he steps foot onto unfamiliar soil.
As former West Ham United left-back Paul Konchesky recalls, Carlos Tevez barely ever spoke in English. Apart from when he was berating Roy Carroll that, is.
Soungoutou Magassa, though, knows the importance of learning the native tongue, accepting that clear lines of communication will aid his adaptation to life in a claret and blue jersey even if polyglot Nuno Espirito Santo is a pretty handy French speaker himself.
Magassa is getting used to Premier League life after arriving in August from Monaco. Speaking to the club’s official website ahead of Saturday’s trip to Arsenal, the France Under-21 international has noticed a dramatic difference in ‘intensity’ while the average attendance at the London Stadium is six times higher than that of Monaco’s Stade Louis II.
He also credits a number of French speakers – Alphonse Areola, El Hadji Malick Diouf, Jean-Clair Todibo and even Lucas Paqueta – for making his first few weeks across the Channel that little bit easier.
Lucas Paqueta has ‘helped’ Soungoutou Magassa settle at West Ham United
Magassa came through a tough start at Everton on Monday night, belatedly making his mark in that 1-1 draw before being replaced by Freddie Potts.
The 21-year-old is hoping to pick up where he left off at the Emirates. Regular English lessons, meanwhile, ensure that Magassa should be able to converse fluently with Jarrod Bowen, Max Kilman and co soon enough, as well as West Ham’s handful of Francophiles.
“I feel very good. It’s a family club that has welcomed me very well, with a few French speakers,” Magassa explains. “I’m taking English classes regularly to feel more confident speaking in English, and I feel as if it’s going very well.
“I want to be able to speak to everyone, to be able to express myself on the pitch and say what I want to the players at certain times. I’m trying to improve and integrate as best I can.
“I’ve been welcomed by a very good team with very good staff, and I’m very happy to be here at West Ham.
“Everyone has helped me on a daily basis, whether it’s Alphonse, Malick, Jean-Clair, or Lucas, as he speaks a bit of French too.”
Before joining the Hammers in 2022, Paqueta spent a couple of years with Olympique Lyonnais. Hence, why the Brazil international knows his chien from his chateau.
Nuno shares Jean-Clair Todibo update ahead of Arsenal clash
While Graham Potter played a key role convincing Magassa to join the Hammers – Nottingham Forest and Eintracht Frankfurt were interested too, alongside links with AS Roma – the 6ft 2ins giant is excited about what the future has to offer under Nuno Espirito Santo.
Nuno highlighted the importance of young players this week – Magassa, Diouf and Mateus Fernandes are all under the age of 22 – while one of Europe’s best young ball-winners could be integral to West Ham’s hopes of stopping Martin Odegaard and Ebere Eze in their tracks at the Emirates.
“The [young] lads are so important for us. They bring this energy. So, we hope George [Earthy, out for at least a month with a hamstring injury] will recover soon,” says Nuno, who gave the aforementioned Kilman his debut at Wolves.
“We have to compete, this is the main message that has been passed to me, that we need to compete. To be strong, to be aggressive, to be brave.
“They say [bringing through young players is] the ‘West Ham way’. Let’s try.”
Nuno admits that Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Jean-Clair Todibo should be available at Arsenal, too, having overcome recent illnesses.
“Todibo trained. Last week, he didn’t train in all the sessions. Now, he’s involved. We will see,” the former Tottenham boss adds. “The same [for Wan-Bissaka], the same.
“Thank God, this week has been good. They are recovering.”
