PROFILE | Youssouf Ndayishimiye looking to rediscover form after disruptive 2024
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Having initially impressed following his move to Nice in January 2023, Youssouf Ndayishimiye has stagnated somewhat. The Burundi international reportedly had a minor falling out with now-former manager Francesco Farioli, who was vocally critical of Ndayishimiye for scoring Le Gym’s goal of the season in the Coupe de France. The long-range effort, although spectacular, was not necessarily in fitting with Nice’s play-style at the time, and Farioli let it be known, publicly and often. Reports suggest that Ndayishimiye did not take kindly to those repeated comments and, for one reason or another, he featured less prominently towards the end of the last campaign.
Niggles, as well as an incremental process of adaptation, have prevented Ndayishimiye from truly finding his rhythm under new manager Franck Haise this season. Upon his arrival, Haise was clear that he viewed the Burundi international as a centre-back rather than a midfielder, with the former RC Lens manager known for deploying a three-man defence in recent times. Given his skillset as a combative, imposing, and aggressive player, it is a role that looked to suit him. His assuredness, simpleness and composure on the ball too alluded to a more prominent role for Ndayishimiye this time around. Yet that has not come to pass, although recurrent injuries have played their part.
Is Ndayishimiye a centre-back?
Despite those injuries, he has played 12 games in all competitions this season but the content of his displays has been less convincing. That assuredness in what is still an unfamiliar position has dissipated somewhat and with that slight knock to confidence, errors, absent from his game in his opening months on the French Riviera, have crept in. Both on an individual and a collective level, performances in the Europa League this season have fallen short of expectations.
Ndayishimiye will, however, continue to play a prominent role, especially given the issues in the medical department at Le Gym. But under Haise, he now looks to have been pigeon-holed in a role that suits him less than the double-pivot in which he thrived, firstly under Didier Digard and then in the opening months under Farioli’s tutelage. Whether these are simply teething problems or symptoms of a wider problem and even an incompatibility with the centre-back role, will determine how Ndayishimiye’s 2025 pans out as he looks to re-discover that rich vein of form that made him one of the most prolific ball-winners in Ligue 1.
