Champions League injury woe for ex-Norwich City Lees-Melou.
A broken fibula robbed former Norwich City midfielder Pierre Lees-Melou of a potential Euro2024 call up for France, and has now ruled him out of Brest’s Champions League bow this week.
The 31-year-old revived his career on a return to his homeland, after a season in England during the Canaries’ failed Premier League tilt in 2021/22.
Lees-Melou opted not to drop down to the Championship and signed for Brest in a deal that could end up rising to £3.5m for his previous club. The defensive midfielder was a key figure in a surprise top three Ligue One finish last season, before suffering the injury in April.
Prior to his injury, 14 goal contributions in 61 top flight appearances over the past two seasons in France saw him touted with a late run to make ‘Les Bleus’ squad for Euro2024, while Brest reportedly turned down a €10m transfer offer from Rennes in January.
But Lees-Melou, who is under contract with ‘Les Pirates’ until 2027, has not kicked a ball this season since undergoing surgery in May, and Stade boss, Éric Roy, delivered a gloomy update ahead of a landmark Champions League group home tie against Graz on Thursday.
“He is not yet at all ready to be able to play,” said Roy, quoted by FootMercato. “Pierre continues his convalescence, he still has a little pain when he kicks with his right foot, he works a lot on his left foot. He does not fear contact and there is no risk.
“(Is there any timescale for his return?) It depends a lot on his feelings, we are listening, we trust and I hope it will be okay. There was a (surgical) intervention with the installation of a plate, but we don’t know what that entails, and neither does he unfortunately.”
Lees-Melou made 37 league and cup appearances for the Canaries in 2021/22, following a reported £3.5m transfer from Nice, but his only senior goal came in a 2-0 Premier League home win over Burnley.
“After Norwich were relegated to the Championship, I had several offers,” Lees-Melou previously told the official Ligue 1 site.
“I don’t want to knock the English second division, but I wasn’t really interested in playing in the Championship.
“It’s a good league, but there are a lot of games, two cups and, above all, I wanted to stay in a top-flight club. I wanted to continue playing at the highest level.
“On top of that, Brest had an ambitious project. I thought long and hard before choosing Brest and I don’t regret it at all. We have a good group, a good team and a family atmosphere.
“When you sign for a club, it’s not necessarily your intention to get relegated. But this year at Norwich will remain a good experience from a personal point of view.
“I discovered the Premier League, the stadiums, the great atmosphere. When we played Manchester United at Old Trafford, that was something. We lost 3-2, with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring a hat-trick. They didn’t have much left to play for but there were 80,000 people there, and that made an impression on me.
“In my game, I’ve made a lot of progress in terms of aggression and defence. Even though I would have liked Norwich to stay in the Premier League, there are a lot of positives and I didn’t see it as a failure.”
