Scorer of 9 goals and 2 assists in Ligue 1, the Franco-Ivorian striker Seppe Elye Wahi has had a successful confirmation season with Montpellier. At 20, Wahi had to face a world that did not give him a gift despite his precocity. Now he is the delight of the France U23 team.
If the youngest prodigies are often spotted very quickly in the academies, Sepe Elye Wahi is a file that has always divided in the training centers. Passed through Suresnes, Caen and Montpellier between 2009 and 2020, the native of Courcouronnes (France) had an eventful adolescence, marked by the absence of his father (deceased) and his expulsion from school which will directly impact his training as a footballer, his college at the time being linked in some way to SM Caen.
Arrived in Montpellier in 2019 where he finds Francis De Taddeo who had signed him at Stade Malherbe, the French nugget can then relaunch his ambitions as a professional footballer. Moreover, he joined the pro group at the start of 2021 when he was only 18 years old. He scored his very first goal shortly after, becoming the second youngest goalscorer in club history.
Wahi, the new artificer of the Talent League
The MHSC has just found its new striker behind Andy Delort and Gaëtan Laborde who left the club the following summer. It is therefore during the 2021-2022 season that Sepe Elye Wahi will impose himself on the front of the Hérault attack with 10 goals scored in Ligue 1. Becoming more and more regular, he is having an excellent first part of the season this times with 6 goals and an assist before the World Cup break. He will even manage to overtake Benzema in the Ligue 1 scorer rankings before the age of 20.
He now brings his total to 9 goals this season with a start to the year cut short by suspensions and muscle discomfort. Fast, athletic and very technical, the striker of Ivorian origin is a complete fan of Didier Drogba.
Going to the A’s… “that’s the goal”
The Montpellier center-forward has featured with all categories of the France youth team. Thanks to his good year 2022, he became an international French hopeful. Happy with his first selection, Elye Wahi does not intend to stop there.
“We must continue to work for why not one day go to the A … Anyway, that’s the goal,”
He says.
The one who sings “Premier Gaou” by Magic Système during his hazing, however, does not close the door to the Ivory Coast:
“For the moment, it is the France team above all but I do not close the other doors. We’ll see how my career evolves and we’ll make the right choices.”
Also capable of playing on the sides, the powerful striker will have to live up to stiff competition among French talents to hope for a call-up in the years to come.
On the side of the Ivory Coast, Sepe Elye Wahi could do good in a short time, like his compatriot Sebastian Haller. It remains for the Ivorian federation to convince him to wear the orange jersey.
Source: Mary SOUMARE and Jules Dia
