Player Focus: How Far Can Brilliant Beauvue Go?

"I don't want to talk about myself but about the team because, without them, I wouldn't be the player I am." After another sparkling display for Guingamp against Lorient on Saturday evening, Claudio Beauvue was again the epitome of modesty as the now-customary post-match gaggle of journalists gathered around him. Quite how long he can feasibly peddle this line is increasingly open to question.

Beauvue is right in the sense that his teammates do deserve an immense amount of credit. Guingamp sit fourth in the WhoScored form table (based on the last 6 games), behind only Lyon, Monaco and Montpellier, but their improvement goes back further than that. Defeat at Evian Thonon Gaillard at the end of December left Jocelyn Gourvennec’s team rooted to the foot of the table, but they have since won 9, drawn 1 and lost just 2 of the 12 subsequent games in all competitions. They are currently 12th; 7 points clear of the bottom three and equally 7 points behind Montpellier, who are in 6th.

Having said that, few are as responsible for this sharp upswing in fortune as Beauvue himself. His brace against Sylvain Ripoll's team on Saturday took his season's tally in all competitions to 18, with 13 of those coming in Guingamp's last 12 matches. The most recent of those was the delightfully audacious Panenka penalty which proved decisive against Lorient, and which spoke volumes for Beauvue's current confidence – he had, he confided after the game, thought about trying the trick when taking his spot kick against Marseille's Stève Mandanda at the Vélodrome last weekend, but "didn't dare in the end."

In terms of league goals, Beauvue is in third place in the standings, behind only Alexandre Lacazette and André-Pierre Gignac with his 10, which make up 38% of Guingamp's team total. Of those, 4 have been headers – only Marseille’s Gignac has scored more Ligue 1 goals with his head this season (6). It’s a remarkably potent aspect of Beauvue’s game, especially when one considers that he stands at a relatively modest 174cm. It is a tribute to his anticipation, timing and reading of the game as much as it is to his power.

It is just one of the reasons that led Gourvennec to reposition his star turn earlier this season. If Beauvue’s determination and work ethic – frequently praised by his teammates – is a key part of his rise, then so is his coach’s vision in redefining his role. After top scorer Mustapha Yatabaré’s departure to Trabzonspor just before the transfer deadline last summer (having scored 11 times in Ligue 1 last season, plus 3 assists), Gourvennec moved Beauvue from an attacking midfield role into the lone striker position. It wasn’t the most obvious choice given his size compared to Yatabaré’s – the Malian is 9cm taller and almost 20kg heavier than Beauvue – but it has worked superbly.

Beauvue has been making the most of his advanced role, getting in 2.4 shots per game on average, up from 1.6 per game last season, and 1.3 in his debut half-season in the top flight on loan with Bastia in 2012/13. His pace and finishing ability had often been in evidence in this time, notably while scoring 5 and providing 3 assists from midfield in his first campaign with Guingamp, last season.

There have been a few false starts. Beauvue spent three years in Nantes' famous academy after moving over from Guadeloupe as a teenager, before he was released. Having turned professional with Troyes in Ligue 2, he really caught the eye with Chateauroux before getting his top-flight chance with Bastia. Neither the Corsicans nor Sochaux, who were also interested, were quite convinced enough to pay Chateauroux the price that they wanted in summer 2013, which was a touch below €300,000.

Today, it seems crazy that anyone would have even thought about quibbling. As well as propelling Guingamp forward domestically, Beauvue has also featured heavily in a stellar Europa League campaign, scoring 4 times (plus giving an assist) in 6 matches. He has adopted even more of a shot-on-sight policy in Europe, hitting 4 shots per game. His brace against PAOK in the final group match, which incorporated a quite stunning slalom and finish from outside the penalty box for the winner, put En Avant in the knockout stages for the first time.

The increasingly unavoidable question is what Beauvue will do next. He signed a contract extension with Guingamp last summer (to 2017), on the understanding that he could leave after 2014/15 had concluded should the club receive an acceptable offer – both player and club have ruled out a January exit. Clearly any fee would be several times what they paid, with last Friday’s L’Equipe estimating his value as between €3m and €4m. Bordeaux, Saint Etienne and Lille are among the clubs already circling but as the newspaper also said, “an English interest could double that price.”

Clearly Beauvue would be following in fabled footsteps, with Didier Drogba and Florent Malouda both using Guingamp as their springboards to greatness after being late developers. The comparisons are inevitable, with Beauvue now 26. Drogba was 25 when he left the Stade Roudourou for his big break at Marseille. Malouda, meanwhile, made his leap into the pro game in mainland France at Chateauroux, having grown up in French Guyana.

Drogba and Malouda left within weeks of one another in 2003, with Malouda leaving for Lyon shortly after Drogba went south. They went out in a blaze of glory, scoring twice each in their final match as Guingamp pummelled champions Lyon 4-1 at their Stade Gerland home. With Monaco and Lyon still to visit the Roudourou and trips to Paris Saint-Germain and Saint Etienne to come (not to mention the Europa League tie with Dynamo Kiev), Beauvue has plenty of opportunity to write his own glorious history.

Do you think Beauvue can make the step up to one of Europe’s bigger sides? Let us know in the comments below