Augsburg praise Matsima’s development: “A jewel!”

If two teammates who share the pitch with him are to be believed, Augsburg loanee Chrislain Matsima may soon become a name regularly traded in German footballing circles. 

Matters might not have turned out exactly as hoped for Jess Thorup’s Augsburg against league-leaders FC Bayern München on Friday night, but there were nevertheless plenty of positives to take from a performance that largely contained the high-octane FCB for most of the 90 minutes. One particular promising aspect concerned the adroit manner in which FCA central defender Chrislain Matsima contained his fellow French youth international Michael Olise. 

The two teammates from this summer’s Silver-Medal-winning Olympic squad swapped jerseys on Friday evening. FCA teammates Jeffery Gouweleeuw and Elvis Rexhbecaj also had plenty of praise for Matsima; an Augsburg deadline-day signing who has unquestionably arrived on the Bundesliga scene. The 22-year-old has had a starting role nailed down since match-day seven. 

Matsima drew plenty of attention to himself in Augsburg’s unexpected upset of Dortmund on match-day eight. He performed exceptionally well against Bayern, accomplishing the seemingly impossible by shutting Olise down. The Fuggerstädter will be relying heavily on the AS Monaco loanee in the coming weeks, particularly after losing defenders Dimitrios Giannoulis (injury) and Keven Schlotterbeck (suspension) on Friday night. 

“He needed a bit of time at the beginning,” Jeffrey Gouweleeuw – as quoted by Kicker Magazine journalist Mario Krischel – said afterwards, “But I think he has a lot of potential and is improving every week. He is very reliable, is calm on the ball. A good footballer.’

“Matsima is a great guy!” Rexhbecaj – again, quoted by Krischel, added, “A very, very good lad who is very keen to learn. Incredibly good with the ball. He gives us a lot, even when he’s not playing, running off the ball to win it back. I think he’s a real gem.”

“If Elvis says calls him a gem, then it’s true,” Gouweleeuw (Krischel) also noted, “I don’t want to use words like that just yet, but I do think he has a lot of potential. It’s important at his age that he gets plenty of game time. Then he’ll get better and better.”