Abdelmonem, Bombito and Ndayishimiye seriously injured: what solutions for Nice in central defense before challenging Benfica?

The avalanche was terrible. In just a few weeks, the Gym lost three of its central defenders, including two key players, Moïse Bombito and Youssouf Ndayishimiye. The former fractured a tibia in May and was only rested in July, when he resumed training. The latter ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee at the end of April during training .

The Canadian is expected to return in September, but more likely in October. The Burundian could return to competition in January, like Mohamed Abdelmonem, who also suffered a cruciate ligament rupture in his right knee five days before his friend, when the Gym won at Paris Saint-Germain (3-1 on April 25) . This was a setback for the Egyptian, who was in his best period. Nice had no choice but to recruit.

In June, he signed Sierra Leonean international Juma Bah (19 years old, two caps) on loan from Manchester City. A month later, once Bombito's absence had been confirmed, he bought the contract of Ghanaian Kojo Peprah Oppong (21 years old) from Swedish club Norkköping for around €2.5 million . Accustomed to the 3-4-3 formation, Nice coach Franck Haise currently has five central defenders fit to play.

Bah and Oppong are right-footed, like Antoine Mendy. Dante and Melvin Bard are left-footed. During the four most significant preparation matches, the Gym played with the Mendy-Bah-Dante trident and it seems certain that Bard is primarily considered by his coach as a piston. If the Aiglons have not lost in preparation (apart from the substitutes' match against Sankt-Pauli, 0-2, on July 26 ), the central defense faltered and they conceded a goal against Bruges and Feyenoord (2-1), two against Sheffield (3-2) and three against Nancy (3-3).

Mendy was very good against Feyenoord and is gradually coming out of his shell, but he remains young (21 years old) and shy. Noticed at Lens last season, Bah is a golgoth (1.95 m), very strong in the air but his daring passes and some blunders did not go unnoticed in preparation. While Dante (42 years old in October), who struggled against Sheffield for example, did not really reassure. The picture is not reassuring and this could suit Oppong, who arrived late but is apparently in good shape since he was in the middle of the Swedish Championship at the time of his transfer.

It would be surprising if he started against Benfica on Wednesday in the Champions League third preliminary round first leg, but why not see him soon after? Haise knew it wouldn't be easy, and three days before the start of hostilities, his defense doesn't seem to be up to scratch. This uncertainty is reinforced by the presence of a new goalkeeper (former Reims player Yehvann Diouf), with whom he will quickly have to find some rhythms.