‘Freedom I have already won it on the pitch’ – Eric Cantona now turns to music

Eric Cantona played the game as if he had no restraints. His every movement was a small act of devotion to the ideal of freedom. The encapsulation of “ La Vie Beau de la Vie ” as Nick Scott once wrote of a player as graceful as he was strong. 

On the pitch, he flourished best when his role remained undefined like at Manchester United, and the responsibility of where he would focus his attention was left almost entirely up to his discretion. And it is this sense of freedom that has come to define Cantona long after he retired from football in 1997. 

A sentiment that he would perhaps be proud of encouraging since the end of the 90s is the notion that he was an artist whose medium at the time was football. After retiring , Cantona became an actor, a philosopher, a filmmaker, a writer, a poet, an art curator, and in 2012 he even attempted to run as President of France.

Now a year later Cantona has turned his hand to music as he prepares for his first tour across Europe. A career decision that feels perfectly at home for a player who preached freedom. 

Speaking to Ouest France , Cantona states “ Freedom I have already won it on the pitch. When you have a position where you have more freedom than others, you have responsibilities. This freedom must help the team win. Alex Ferguson gave me that freedom at Manchester United. I did everything to continue to have it in every match.”

He continued, “ My previous life allows me to do all this, I am well aware of it. But we depend on the desires of others . Playing football allowed me to make my first films, not the rest. Not to write, compose, and sing what I want. For that I owe nothing to anyone .” 

GFFN | Nick Hartland