If the name Benoit Pedretti doesn’t mean too much to you, you could be forgiven.
The 35-year-old, despite having 22 caps for France, has spent all of his career playing in France, moving around from respectable club to respectable club without really establishing himself as one of the top midfielders of his generation.
Playing for FC Sochaux, Olympique de Marseille, Lyon, AJ Auxerre, Lille, Ajaccio and now newly promoted Nancy, the veteran midfielder has accumulated 486 appearances in Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 combined.
Widely regarded as an exciting prospect during his early days at Sochaux, Pedretty, giving an interview to France Football, reveals he only really had one tempting offer to leave his home country to go abroad to a club that interested him.
He explained: “I never really had an attractive opportunity, apart from Liverpool. I was then still at Sochaux and Gérard Houllier contacted me, but I didn’t feel ready to go abroad. I never looked to leave Ligue 1. All the challenges I’ve had in France have interested me. I like paying my taxes in France!”
Now at one of the smaller clubs in the French league, the player admits he doesn’t really have any personal goals anymore, and that his aim is to help his team avoid relegation back down to Ligue 2.
Over a 17-year career, Pedretti has only won the French league once, in 2006 with Lyon.
