Helping Nottingham Forest go back up to the Premier League, Brice Samba should have stayed at City Ground to help them remain in England’s top-tier.
However, a falling out with the club’s management led to him moving to RC Lens, where he has continued to excel in Ligue 1.
The former Nottingham Forest goalkeeper is now one of the better goalkeepers available to Didier Deschamps following the retirements of both Hugo Lloris and Steve Mandanda, meaning a new hierarchy will likely be formed.
Mike Maignan is the favourite to become the new number one, but there will be plenty of competition for him; far more than the Tottenham shot stopper ever had to deal with.
On the latter, he said: “It surprised more than one, that’s for sure. Playing in the Premier League is a dream for certain footballers… For me, it was a choice of the heart, like I’ve often said. I felt a lot of desire from Lens, I felt they really wanted me and that’s really important for me.
“When someone absolutely wants you, I think that it’s for good reasons and I think I’ve proven to everyone why they wanted that now.”
Prior to his move to Lens, Samba had made 133 appearances for Nottingham Forest in all competitions, conceding 124 goals and keeping 45 clean sheets.
