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Le Havre is a Ligue 2 football team based in Le Havre, Normandy which has spent most of its life as France's second-tier club. It is highly unlikely that you would have heard the name of this club because the last time the club was in top-flight was during the 2008-09 season. It was the first club outside of Paris to win the French title(but that happened way back in 1900).
This club has a rich history as well as an age-old tradition of producing world-class players, some of whom have played, and are still playing for some of the biggest teams in the world.
We take a look at the greatest XI of Le Havre in a 4-3-3 formation and what might have been if they had played together.
Goalkeeper
Steve Mandanda
Mandana started his career with Le Havre in August 2005 and went on to become a regular starter for the next two seasons before making the switch to Marseille in 2007. He soon became a fan favorite there as he played for the next 9 years, winning the Ligue 1 title in 2009-10.
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The four-time Ligue 1 'Keeper of the Year' had a brief stint with Crystal Palace in the Premier League, but struggled to nail down a regular spot and returned back to Marseille in 2017. He was a reliable figure between the sticks for them and even won 26 national caps for the Les Blues.
Defenders
Benjamin Mendy (Left back)
Le Havre was the club which provided full-back Benjamin Mendy with his first ever professional contract in 2011, where he spent 2 years making 64 appearances for the club before switching to Marseille. An attack-minded full-back with the pedigree of being in a Pep Guardiola team, he regularly makes powerful runs into the opposition third and is an excellent crosser of the ball. He was one of the standout performers of Monaco's title-winning campaign which resulted in a then world-record transfer to Manchester City.
Jean-Alain Boumsong (Centre Back)
Jean-Alain Boumsong is a former French international who has played for Rangers, Newcastle United, Juventus, Lyon and Panathinaikos, winning Ligue 1 and Scottish Premiership in the process. The much-traveled footballer made his debut for Le Havre and played 40 times for the club between 1997-2000.
He was an excellent reader of the game and his playing style was characterized by his tremendous pace and physical strength. Boumsong has the distinction of receiving a Scottish League winner's medal even though he made his switch to Newcastle 5 months earlier. He made 27 appearances for the French national team.
Souleymane Diawara(Center back)
Diawara made his debut for Le Havre in 1998 and played for the club for 5 seasons, amassing more than 100 appearances. He spent most of his career in France, playing for Sochaux, Bordeaux, Marseille, and Nice and had a brief stint in England with Charlton Athletic.
He won 2 Ligue 1 titles and 4 Coupe de la Ligue titles(the most for any player) and went on to represent Senegal 48 times at international level. He was regarded as one of the most skillful center backs of his time but his international career was mired with controversies as he was suspended for two years due to disciplinary issues.
Pascal Chimbonda (Right Back)
Pascal Chimbonda is one more player who was handed his professional debut by Le Havre and amassed over 100 appearances before getting transferred to Bastia in 2003. He joined Wigan Athletic in 2005 for their first ever top-flight campaign and was absolutely crucial for their survival.
Not as quite as tall as per the Premier League standards, he made up for it with his athleticism and such was his influence that he was named the Premier League Team of the Year. He went on to play for a host of English clubs like Tottenham Hotspur, Sunderland, Blackburn Rovers, Queen Park Rangers, etc. He was on the bench for France in the 2006 World Cup Final and made one appearance in a friendly match for Les Blues.
Midfielders
Paul Pogba (Central Midfield)
Manchester United broke the world transfer record as they paid £89m to bring back Paul Pogba from Juventus four years after he left the Red Devils for the Italian Giants. A near complete midfielder, he has it all- an astute dribbler with the penetrative vision to create killer passes and the physical strength to stand his ground in the Premier League.
Although the 2013 Golden Boy was criticized for not living up to the expectations in his first season back, he has shown why Jose Mourinho was so desperate to buy him. It all started for Pogba at Le Havre where he joined at the age of 14.
Vikash Dhorasoo (Central Midfield)
Vikash made his debut with Le Havre in 1993 and went on to make 137 appearances for the club over the course of 5 seasons. A promising midfielder who was one of the best dribblers on his day, he regularly drew comparisons with teammate Zinedine Zidane. He tasted success with Lyon winning two successive Ligue 1 titles between 2002-04 and also played with a host of big-name clubs like Inter Milan, PSG, Bordeaux, etc.
A part of the French squad which finished runner-ups in 2006 World Cup, his international career was mired with controversies and ended up rather acrimoniously when he revealed the happenings of the dressing room via a documentary despite warning from coach Raymond Domenech and the French Football Federation.
Lassana Diarra (Defensive Midfield)
Diarra started his professional football career with Le Havre and such outstanding he was in his defensive midfield role, his reputation started to grow and soon enough Chelsea came knocking, paying £1m for the youngster. His club career is an interesting one as he played for Arsenal, Portsmouth, Real Madrid and brief stints in Russia and UAE.
He was a true midfield destroyer due to his ball-winning abilities and had brilliant ball control, an ability not generally associated with such players. Courtesy of his intelligent passing and long-range striking ability, he was often deployed in various attacking positions throughout his career. It is this wealth of experience which has persuaded PSG to sign him this transfer window despite his age.
Forwards
Dimitri Payet (Left wing)
Dimitri Payet set the Premier League on fire in the 2015-16 season with West Ham as the club pulled off a major coup in the transfer market by signing him from Marseille. He scored 11 and provided 18 assists for the Hammers in 48 league appearances in total, helping the club into Europa League. He scored some of the most memorable free kicks of the modern Premier League era and ended the season as runner-up in the Euro 2016 with the French national team.
He spent 4 years with Le Havre as a youth player but won't remember his association with the club fondly, as was his time with The Hammers. He was accused of having a difficult character and displaying a lack of motivation. After a protracted transfer saga, he is currently back with Marseille in Ligue 1.
Mamadou Niang (Centre Forward)
Mamadou Niang joined Le Havre as a youth player and flourished under the guidance of then-coach Carlos Lopez. However, after Lopez's departure, he struggled to comply with the demands of the new manager and followed Lopez to Troyes where he made his top-flight debut.
The most productive period of his career came when he joined Marseille where he hit 71 goals in 155 appearances and even captained the club to Ligue 1 glory in 2010, finishing top scorer in the league that season. He later had brief stints with various clubs in Turkey and Qatar. He also has 20 goals to his name in 56 appearances for Senegal and was named Senegalese footballer of the Year twice.
Riyad Mahrez(Right Wing)
The name of Riyad Mahrez needs no introduction as he played a humongous role in the Leicester City's fairytale story as they beat odds of 5000/1 to clinch the Premier League title. Mahrez joined Le Havre in 2010 and made 60 appearances before moving on to Leicester in January 2014 while the club was still in the Championship.
A skillful player with various tricks up his sleeve, he wreaked havoc in opposition defenses as he raked in 17 goals and 11 assists in the next season helping Leicester win the title, becoming the PFA Players' Player of the Year and Algerian Player of the year.
His family was initially a skeptic of his move to Premier League as they felt his style of play and physique suited more to the Spanish league but he has beautifully silenced any doubts regarding his abilities. He has been capped 30 times for Algeria and also represented them in 2014 World Cup.
