Football: Cameroonian midfielder Steve Mvoue joins FC Toulouse

Martial Gnoukapasi.

Photo Credit: TPO Bakah Derick

Cameroonian footballer Steve Regis Mvoue has made a record move from Cameroon to French Ligue 1 side FC Toulouse. Apparently, it had been sealed some time ago as several sources had announced the player in the club since the last AFCON but it was only confirm by his agents on Friday March 13, 2020 after close to three years of monitoring and negotiations.

According to club sources, the deal is valued at €1Milion  being the biggest ever transfer fee paid for a Cameroonian footballer directly from the country beating Charly Formen's move from Elite One side Panthere du Nde in 2009 valued at €600 to Marseille.  

The move from Azur Academy to FC Toulouse according to Smart Sports Agency & Utopia Group of Samuel Eto'o both collaborating agencies for the transfer is a landmark transfer which is the fruit of hard work, patience and consistency.

Though other football giants like Redbull FC Brugge, Salzburg, and Monaco FC among others showed strong interest in the 18 years old Cameroon international, key actors in the move like Wilfred Happi of Utopia Group and Chi Ivo of Smart Sport thinks that FC Toulouse was the best option for Steve Mvoue.

"For the past three years Steve has been visiting Toulouse on regular basis. He even did the full preseason with Toulouse first team last summer as well as they has been following and supporting him in all competitions. If he wasn’t the minimum age requirement, Steve Mvoue would have been playing this season with Toulouse. Unfortunately he turned 18, on February 2nd, only two days after the end of the winter transfert window 2020. I think that FC Toulouse is now like home for Steve because the club knows him and he knows the club and the city as well. He will requires less time for him to get adapted to the environment I think the choice was right because he will be comfortable there. Let me also add that the club will most probably be playing second division and will give him the opportunity to be on the starting lineup than to go to a Top tier club where he will not be starting games. The player will join directly the first team of Toulouse instead of joining the reserve as most of African players do when they join first a professional team in Europe. This fits very well in the long term carrier plan we have for him and other players we are working with. We have a different way of working with our players, we generally start working with them when they are young at the age of 15, and find a club where they will go several time to get monitored and get used to the environment until they can officially sign at the age of 18. This allows the clubs to correct the little imperfections those young players carry and get them ready for the elite team earlier. We 5 other players currently undergoing the same process and who should sign their first professional contract in the upcoming months" Ivo Chi said

Steve Regis Mvoue begins a new professional carrier with FC Toulouse after he helped Cameroon win the Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations title in 2019. He was voted player of the tournament. He was added to Cameroon's provisional 34-man squad for the African cup of nations AFCON that took place same year in Egypt and lead Cameroon at the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Brazil. 

The son of Regine Mvoue, first captain of Cameroon's women's football team, pens his name in the records of FC Toulouse where his older brother Stephane Zobo still remains in the good books of the French Ligue 1 side.