Ligue 2 has earned a name for having some undervalued talents in Europe. Be it Riyadh Mahrez or NGolo Kante, they show that there is no shortage of talent in Ligue 2. The latest one in the list could be Le Havre’s in-form striker Tino Kadewere. As part of our new series of new football tips, it’s worth checking this player out.
Technically, Kadewere isn’t a Ligue 2 player though. He’s currently on loan from French giants Lyon but the move to the Champions League side came in January. Lyon shelled out €12 million to sign him in January and loaned him out immediately to Le Havre to continue his development.
In him, Lyon have a player who can potentially replace Moussa Dembele in the future. With Kadewere’s loan deal at Le Havre ending in the summer of 2020, Dembele has been linked with moves to Chelsea and Manchester United. With Kadewere impressing, there is every chance to gets to step up to the plate next season as soon as the former Celtic man departs.
This season, the Zimbabwe striker has impressed in front of goal for Le Havre. In 22 Ligue 2 games, he has 18 goals and has four assists to his name as well. Having played as a regular centre-forward, Kadewere has been scoring for fun almost.
The first six games of the season had seen Kadewere pick up as many as nine goals and rack up two assists as well. While those numbers have dried up a bit since then, his overall form has been impressive so far. He is worth a look, so apply now and get him in your portfolio.
It is important to note that this is Kadewere’s second season in France. Le Havre had snapped the striker up from Swedish club Djurgardens in the summer of 2018 for a fee of €2 million. His first season wasn’t the most impressive one, as the 24-year-old got only five goals and four assists in the 2018-19 season. Perhaps, that was expected considering it was his first campaign in a major footballing nation.
His last season in the Allsvenskan had been the best of the bunch in Sweden. In just 12 games, he got eight goals and two assists, playing as the striker. It was on the basis of that season that the Le Havre move had come across.
Kadewere was linked with a move to Celtic this past January and that is a good sign too. Celtic could lose Odsonne Edouard in the summer like Lyon can lose former Hoops man Dembele. If players of that quality can be replaced by Kadewere, it says a lot about the 24-year-old goalscorer.
When Kadewere joined Lyon, Rudi Garcia hailed him as the ‘future’ of the side. He said: “He should commit to the club in the next few hours. He is a good player with great potential. He must continue like this at Le Havre. Kadewere, this is the future. I insisted that we take an attacking player. We didn’t need two. It’s a wise decision to leave him (at Le Havre) until the end of the season.”
Not just that, but Aston Villa too were looking to sign Kadewere in January. Their summer signing Wesley had sustained a season-ending injury and instead of Kadewere, they got Mbwana Samatta from Genk. If not for that, Kadewere could well have been in the Premier League already.
But Lyon provide him the perfect chance for that. The club developed Alexandre Lacazette and Karim Benzema in the past and they have a general knack for that too. Kadewere will get his chance, even though Lyon did sign Karl Toko Ekambi from Villarreal on loan with an option to buy.
