Deloumeaux adds a French twist

IN THREE busy months in his new country, Motherwell defender Eric Deloumeaux has jammed in some sight-seeing, venturing to the cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh but not yet into the cinemas to pursue that particular pastime. Something of a polyglot, Deloumeaux dabbles in Spanish and German as well as his native French, and his English, learned since high school, is good too, though not to the extent that he feels he can follow for two hours quickfire, on-screen dialogue.

In order to satisfy his film fix, he could wait for the next French Film Festival to reach town, but for now he can content himself with being one of the protagonists in a Fir Park production. Working title: The French Connection. Direction: Eric Black.

Deloumeaux, 28, represented the Motherwell manager’s first signing back in November. He was sent off in the 3-0 defeat by Rangers yesterday, but despite the set-back, the cultured centre-half has thus far, represented good value, looking comfortable in the middle of the rearguard and doing his bit to enhance the performances of a side who have shown some encouraging signs during these early months under the new management team.

While Motherwell, like some other SPL clubs, can be cheered by the prospect of youth - James McFadden, Keith Lasley - they have quickly, too, become home to a modest French colony. Deloumeaux has been followed to Fir Park by compatriot and former Le Havre team-mate Yan Soloy, and, lest we forget, David Ferrere, last week’s substitute debut hat-trick hero against Hibs, someone even Deloumeaux had scant previous knowledge of, although that has been boosted considerably by now.

"It was a very good start for David," says Deloumeaux of the man soon nicknamed the ‘Wee Mouse’ by his new team-mates. "He has set the level high now and it will be difficult to stay. But this is good for him."

Deloumeaux had a good start too, though inevitably in a less auspicious manner. He made his debut against Aberdeen and was a standout performer during Alex McLeish’s Rangers debut at Fir Park. Black had come across this Frenchman when the defender was on trial at Bradford and Black still an agent, yet to take up his managerial post in Lanarkshire. When he did, Deloumeaux got the call. His first club move abroad, after seven seasons in French football, is one he is content with.

"I’m happy because I’ve been welcomed in a very friendly way and it’s easier to adapt and we’ve had some good results. I try to do my best on the pitch and I try to keep the same level. I think this team was not bad but the players had to learn, not so much how to play but how to behave in certain situations. That’s what the gaffer is trying to bring to the group."

When having one-on-one chats with his gaffer they will converse in French. Deloumeaux rates his manager’s French as perfect, which is no surprise given the period Black spent in French football with Metz. It is his acquired knowledge of that game and list of contacts that Black is utilising to bring French players such as Deloumeaux to Fir Park to compliment the youth development. But talk to the boss and he is merely using strengths.

"Slovakian, Hungarian, French, it doesn’t matter where they come from," says Black. "It’s just that I know the French market relatively well and can get value for money, but we’re looking at players every week. Eric has made an effort to learn the language and he has integrated well since he signed here. On the park, he has performed exceptionally well for us."

Deloumeaux is hardly the first French player to have arrived in the SPL and set about charming supporters, whether it be through technique, physique or both. Franck Sauzee, Didier Agathe, Freddie Dindeleux, Momo Sylla, Bobo Balde...there exists a long list of Gallic success stories, and Deloumeaux looks set to continue that trend with his clear, intelligent and no-nonsense play.

He feels the calmer backdrop to performing in Scotland is part of the reason why no other foreign nation is better represented, in number and quality, in the SPL than France.

"When you arrive here it is not the same as in France. You know you go to the training session, you play the game and then after you do what you want. Nobody asks you or checks what you do. You can live your life after the football, but in France you don’t have a private life. That’s why when French people come here they want to stay for that reason, for the peace they can have outside of the stadium." Life for Deloumeaux is near parfait. He has made his home in Motherwell with his wife Emilie and their three-month-old baby girl Valentine. "Like today," says Deloumeaux, during our February 14 meeting in a Fir Park lounge with a TV playing Robbie Williams in the background.

"Our baby was born in France, but one month after they came here. I stayed one month alone, but when they came here it changes my life."

Childhood for Deloumeaux was growing up with his family in Souchaux in south-east France. "The weather is very hard in winter - lots of cold and snow - but in the summer it is very hot."

His first professional club was Guignon in the second division with whom he spent two years learning his craft. A transfer followed to Le Havre and a short life in le Championnat. Deloumeaux had three years at Le Havre, but during that time the club were relegated and he found himself back again kicking a ball in the second tier.

He feels he has stepped up a level with the SPL. He calls it a "graduation". He also believes that Le Havre, whose games he still tunes into courtesy of the French football channel in his home, will gain promotion again this season, which pleases him: he maintains much contact with his former team-mates, who check for Motherwell results via the internet and in phonecalls to Scotland. His dream for Motherwell over the next couple of years is to help establish them as a top-six side.

Training sessions mean working with Motherwell assistant Terry Butcher, who passes on learned advice to his defenders. Deloumeaux remembers Butcher well from his international playing days, and recalls France’s opening game in the 1982 World Cup, when they lost 3-1 to England and Butcher in Bilbao.

"Terry is in charge of the defensive stuff because he was a defender. He shows us, teaches us how to move together, that we have to be close. In France we would try during games to change the rhythm, sometimes to go slowly and go quick. But here it is more often you play quick. And you have more challenges in the air here, the strikers are more aggressive."

Despite possessing a positively-serene demeanour, the soft-spoken Deloumeaux insists: "If I have to put some aggression in my game, I will put it in." Maybe too much yesterday.

He cuts a slight, fragile figure off the pitch, does Eric Deloumeaux. But when he pulls on that amber-and-claret jersey the transformation becomes complete. He walks tall as he aims to take Motherwell higher.