GOAL has profiled FC Twente midfielder Daouda Weidmann, outlining the 23-year-old's path from Paris youth football to the Netherlands. GOAL says he has made 16 appearances and been involved in 11 goals, with 5 goals and 6 assists.
Growing up in Paris and joining PSG
Weidmann said he joined PSG at 12. “After school, it was all we did.”
He described the football environment around him in Paris by saying: “Indoors or outdoors, one banlieue against another. There are hundreds of good players there. I often played against boys more talented than me.”
He added: “It's a melting pot of cultures: African boys, Arab boys.”
Speaking about his family, Weidmann said: “My mother is German”
He also said: “My sister and I grew up with my mother in Paris; they still live there. I have her surname because my father did not acknowledge us in our early years and was not part of our lives until I was four.”
On his time at PSG, Weidmann said: “The standard was extremely high. I had to give up a lot: I missed my family, Covid was hard and I suffered injuries. I wondered: wouldn't a normal job be better?”
Weidmann said he trained with Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé, Sergio Ramos and Neymar at PSG. “Superstars I had only seen on TV. You're there to train, not to admire them, but it's not easy for a young boy.”
Leaving France and moving to the Netherlands
Weidmann said moving from the youth teams to PSG's first team was almost impossible. “They wanted to loan me to French third-division clubs, then Torino came along.”
He did not stay there. “All typically Italian. Fine words, big promises, but nothing concrete. Torino wanted to send me to Serie C, and I didn't want that.”
RKC signed Weidmann from Torino and took him to Waalwijk. Weidmann said: “My agent called me out of the blue and said: 'I have a club in the Netherlands for you: RKC.' I asked: 'Who?' I'd never heard of them. I looked them up online, saw they had finished mid-table and thought: 'The Dutch league has a good reputation, let's give it a try.'”
GOAL says Weidmann arrived in the Netherlands three years ago.
Injury, Twente move and Sunday absence
On the 2024/25 season, Weidmann said: “It's no wonder I stayed under the radar for so long. That season (2024/25), I was out from November to May with an abdominal injury. Before that I was playing well, but with RKC's poor results I didn't stand out.”
He also said: “I didn't have ten goals or ten assists to my name”
On Twente's interest, Weidmann said: “I was in shock: who? FC Twente? I said: 'It's impossible. How can Twente be interested in me when I played so little last season and am now at a second-division club?'”
On Sunday, Weidmann was not in the squad when Twente beat Excelsior in a nine-goal rout.
France remains his target
Weidmann said: “My goal remains the France national team, although I know there is still a long way to go.”
