Player Focus: Marathon Man Kerbrat Leads Drogba’s Old Team Guingamp Towards Safety

Shunted into the net in the dying seconds of a hard slog on a muddy pitch, Mustapha Yatabaré’s stoppage-time winner for Guingamp against Nice this weekend felt like a tiny miracle – just like so many things that personify the story of this remarkable little club in western France. Now, in the club’s third spell in Ligue 1, Guingamp are defying gravity again, and Yatabaré’s goal brought back memories of another late, late winner at the Stade Roudourou.

That famous strike was scored last March against Caen (a direct rival for promotion from Ligue 2) by Christophe Kerbrat, their ultra-reliable centre-back. Kerbrat is a very Guingamp sort of footballer, with his career trajectory in recent years a storyline that probably would be rejected by fairytale writers for being too outlandish.

Now 27, Kerbrat is in his first season of top-flight football. He didn’t even sign his first professional contract until he was 25, even later than celebrated Ligue 1 late developers such as Adil Rami and Benjamin Corgnet. In his debut campaign in the top table, he is the only outfielder in Ligue 1 to play every minute of the season so far, 26 matches in.

Kerbrat is the latest in a line of unlikely leaders on the pitch for the club. Another late bloomer is perhaps Guingamp’s most famous. Didier Drogba had been 21 when he finally turned professional with Le Mans, and was nearly 24 by the time he made his top-flight debut for Guingamp. 

It was Drogba’s 17-goal season in 2002/03 that lifted the club from the village in Brittany (with a population of approximately 7,000) to a best-ever Ligue 1 finish of 7th. In the Guingamp swansong of Drogba and fellow future Chelsea star Florent Malouda on the final day of that season, the pair scored twice each as EAG hammered newly-crowned champions Lyon 4-1, on their own turf at the Stade Gerland. Despite the result, Guingamp missed out on European qualification but, astonishingly, finished just six points shy of the champions’ total. Drogba left for Marseille, Malouda for Lyon, and you know the rest. The Roudourou is a place where dreams become reality. 

Kerbrat is never likely to reach their heights, but he is already a winner. What makes his progression even more remarkable is that he wasn’t even a central defender when he arrived at the club. He started out in amateur football as a defensive midfielder, the position in which he also made his first steps into professionalism with Guingamp. Coach Jocelyn Gourvennec – who has had an “immeasurable” influence on Kerbrat’s career, he told L’Equipe in September - moved him back into defence last March as the team’s promotion campaign gathered pace. 

A versatile player, Kerbrat was also used at full-back. “I got on fine there,” he said to L’Equipe, “because I put it in my head that if it didn’t go well, it wasn’t really my position anyway, so I had nothing to lose. But I prefer to be in the centre.” It’s little wonder that Gourvennec calls him “my Swiss army knife.”

The hallmark of Kerbrat’s intelligence is that he uses every bit of his limited experience wisely in his current role. Measuring a relatively modest 183cm, his WhoScored profile marks concentration and interceptions as his key strengths – exactly the same characteristics that made Gourvennec warm to him as a midfield holder in the first place.

As well as making an average 1.8 tackles per match, Kerbrat makes an impressive 2.9 interceptions and concedes just 0.8 fouls per game, fewer than any other defender in the squad. He also makes the most clearances by some distance; 6.7 per match. It is little wonder that Kerbrat is Guingamp’s top-rated player this season. 

Saturday, thanks in part to a typically solid Kerbrat performance, was the occasion for Guingamp to register their first league win since beating Nantes in late November. Three successive league defeats had them looking over their shoulders, particularly as the last loss had been at struggling Sochaux. Yet the team’s season – in keeping with the club’s history in the professional game since the 1970s – has been about collective endeavour, and the performance against Nice showed that again.

Despite only shading possession (52% to 48%), Guingamp created several good chances, having 20 shots while the visitors were restricted to just 1, which wasn’t on target. Yatabaré, who rejected a move to Trabzonspor in January, which would have entailed a hefty wage rise in order to stay and fight for survival, was a worthy scorer of the winner. His goal was his 7th of a productive season. 

The defence, however, is their rock. Gourvennec’s men have conceded just 28 goals in their 26 games to date – 3 fewer than Champions League chasers Lyon, for example – and Kerbrat’s central defensive partner Jérémy Sorbon has also been excellent, also possessing good anticipation and making 5.8 clearances per match himself. Despite having the joint-lowest budget in the division, Guingamp are a tough nut for any team to crack. Their heaviest defeat remains the 3-1 loss to Marseille on the season’s opening night. 

Nobody can assume anything at Guingamp – not even the nice guy routine. As Nice’s top scorer, Dario Cvitanich, left the field after his substitution in the 72nd minute, he went to shake Kerbrat’s hand. The defender refused. “Certain things were said out there,” he enigmatically recounted to BeIN Sports after the match, “but they’ll stay out there, on the pitch.” 

The gritty approach is working for Guingamp. They are by no means safe yet but the 7-point cushion from third-bottom Valenciennes is more than useful as they seek to get the points they need to secure their status. It would be another striking chapter in one of the most curious running stories in French football.

Can Guingamp survive in Ligue 1 this season? Leut us know your thoughts in the comments below