PROFILE | Lower-league journeyman Teddy Teuma at home in France’s top-flight
Teddy Teuma’s (30) outstanding season with Union St Gilloise has translated perfectly into Ligue 1, with the Maltese now one of the top-performing midfielders in the league. He has brought his experience and goal threat to spice up an already exciting Stade de Reims side under Will Still.
Teuma has had an atypical career to say the least. Starting off with French fourth and third-division sides Hyères FC and US Boulogne, before moving to Red Star FC in 2017, with whom he discovered the French Ligue 2, at the age of 25. His profile caught the eye of then Belgian second division side Union St Gilloise who were looking to build a cheap but strong side in order to push for promotion into the Jupiler Pro League, which they succeeded in doing in part thanks to Teuma’s performance in the 20/21 season, during which he scored five and assisted seven goals.
He continued to play well in the first division, regularly featuring amongst the best players in the league, but his final season at the club proved to be the best, scoring 13 and handing out 17 assists as USG went deep into the Europa League while subsequently pushing for the JPL title. This encouraged Reims to go out and spend €4.6 million last summer in order to secure his services, as the side looked to bring attacking threat and creativity to an already well-secured midfield.
Teuma brought just that, scoring long shots and freekicks in a seemingly easy manner, but also supplying his teammates with exquisite passing and all-around creativity and assuredness on the ball, allowing others to thrive in the spaces that he creates. He has proved to be essential to Still’s tactical set-up, though his decreasing endurance and stamina have often meant that he has to be subbed off
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