PROFILE | Morgan Sanson – the revival and the relapse | OneFootball

2024 has been something of a microcosm for Morgan Sanson’s whole career. It all started rather well. After getting his career back on track at Strasbourg the previous season, he earned a loan move to Nice. He quickly became indispensable under Francesco Farioli, playing 32 games across all competitions. He was a functional, metronomic, assured and consistent performer in what was a solid, albeit at times uncreative midfield. Despite not being charged with attacking duties, he nonetheless beat supposedly the more attacking element in that midfield, Khéphren Thuram, in terms of goals and assists, producing two apiece. His four goal contributions across the season were a better return than Thuram’s two across all competitions.

With the France youth international leaving, Sanson may have been expected to build further on that promise shown in the first season and be more prominent in ball progression, especially given that he was often aligned alongside the more defensive-minded Hicham Boudaoui in the double pivot in pre-season. But that is where Sanson came unstuck and unfortunately for the former Aston Villa midfielder, whose move to Nice became permanent over the summer, it was an all-too-familiar tale.

Just a matter of days before the start of the campaign, he was struck down with what was initially thought to have been an ankle sprain. The reality was much worse. That initial diagnosis came after being on the receiving end of a hefty challenge from a youth player in training. However, Sanson struggled to recover. The weeks on the sideline became months, eliciting the concern – and the curiosity – of the Nice medical staff, who sought to undergo further tests, which revealed a much more serious problem.

Sanson’s ankle injury misdiagnosed

The Frenchman had in fact suffered a double fracture in his ankle. “After three, four weeks, the diagnosis didn’t match the one initially given and the medical staff had the humility to question their initial diagnosis,” Laurent Bessiere, head of performance at Nice, told L’Équipe. Whilst that new diagnosis has solved the mystery that surrounded his prolonged absence, it has been a blow to the player, who had looked to have recovered from those recurrent injuries that blighted his prime years.

He will now return early in 2025 with the hope of re-discovering the form that saw him establish himself as a key player under Farioli. Should he do so, he will considerably bolster Nice’s hopes of achieving their objective and qualifying once again for European competition for next season.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle