Aymeric Minne: The man to fulfill France’s high expectations

Two years after they won gold at the Men’s 18 EHF EURO and one year after they topped the podium at the Youth World Championship, France arrive at the upcoming Men’s 20 EHF EURO in Denmark with a lot of expectations to live up to.

Some of the previous years’ gold medallists have already made the step into the senior national team, and aim for gold at Rio 2016 (such as Ludovic Fabregas), but the majority of the team is still intact and wants to win the third trophy in a row.

“It’s no surprise that we are branded the ‘super favourites’ of the competition, but we showed last summer that pressure does not do us much harm,” says centre back Aymeric Minne and sounds like a true professional despite being only 19.

“Many of us have stepped up to another level in our clubs. Now is the time to deliver, even though key players like Ludovic Fabregas, Benoit Kounkoud or Julien Meyer won’t be with us this time.”

Playing with Jérôme Fernandez every day

Minne is one of the many players in France’s under 20 team who played in the French first division this season, consequently making much more progress than he had done in the past.

At Aix, which he joined last summer from Toulouse, he is now coached by Jérôme Fernandez, a true hero of his. “I had already trained a couple of times with him in Toulouse and I very much wanted to follow him to Aix,” he …

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