As explained by L’Equipe, Morgan Sanson is enjoying something of a rebirth in football.
The midfielder has come through a difficult time with transfers and injuries and found happiness in Nice. It’s not just the wonderful climate which has improved his mood, but also finally returning from a long term ankle injury.
Sanson returned at the beginning of April and has finally had some minutes of football this season. He had repeat injury problems at Aston Villa, most notably a long term knee-injury absence in 2021.
After Unai Emery arrived as Aston Villa manager, Sanson joined Strasbourg on loan. That was followed by a loan move to Nice before the transfer was made permanent in 2023.
The Frenchman has struggled mentally with his repeat injuries and was happy enough to open up about those struggles, especially given it’s easier to talk about the situation now things are going much better for him.
L’Equipe quote Sanson as saying: “But I was depressed. I was in the same situation at Villa, and at Aston Villa I was depressed. It’s hard to say, but even your children can’t change your mood. They come to you: ‘Dad, are you okay?’; ‘No, you’re not okay.’ Even your own family can’t put a smile on your face.”
The recent ankle injury brought it all back: “We had to live day by day without seeing where we were going. I saw the light at the end of the tunnel at the end of January, when I started to get up without pain. But before that, I wasn’t even going to matches anymore. I was in a hole. I wasn’t watching football (on TV) anymore. Whether my friends won or lost, I had the same feeling: I was devastated.”
