Loic Remy and I won many trophies at Marseille but keeping QPR up would be our greatest achievement

Stephane Mbia likens great friend to Thierry Henry and can’t think of anyone better to shoot the Premier League’s bottom club out of trouble
1/2
Simon Johnson28 March 2013

No matter what Stephane Mbia and Loic Remy do, they appear to like nothing more than heading in the same direction together.

When the duo are not trying to lift Queens Park Rangers off the bottom of the Premier League table, they are taking trips on the Underground to enjoy London’s many sights.

It is a friendship that was forged after Remy joined Marseille in 2010 and formed an instant bond with the defensive midfielder, who had moved to the French club a year earlier.

Remy appears to have a knack of following in Mbia’s footsteps. He swapped the south coast of France for Loftus Road in January, five months after his ally, which is almost the same amount of time the 26-year-olds were born apart (Remy is eight months younger).

Yet there is no sense of seniority between them as far as Mbia is concerned, just mutual respect for each other’s ability.

Indeed, such is Remy’s talent, Mbia joins the striker’s many admirers back in France in comparing him to an Arsenal legend.

He told Standard Sport: “When I see him at the training ground, I tell him every time, ‘hey Thierry (Henry), how are you?’ He appreciates that and tells me he wants to be the same level as him. He prays to God that he can do the same as him.

“He is a very similar player to Thierry. He is fast, he can dribble and score. When he has one opportunity to score, he scores. For a striker that is important. But he also has a name for me too. He calls me [Fernando] Redondo, after the player who played for AC Milan and Real Madrid.

“It is just a small sign of our friendship when we are together at the club but we socialise together, too. We go into the city, we both have Oyster cards and will take the Tube or the bus. That is real life.

“It’s not like when we were in Marseilles, where we would get recognised all the time wherever we went. Many people here don’t care, they are going about their own lives.

“Occasionally, we get stopped by a couple of people when we’re walking around Hammersmith or central London but it’s a lot easier than Marseilles.”

Keeping a low profile is one of the few things that has been easier for the pair since moving to the capital because winning football matches has proved a lot harder.

Instead of competing for honours with Marseille — in 2011 they finished second in Ligue 1 and won the League Cup — they are embroiled in a relegation battle that many expect QPR to lose. They are seven points shy of safety with only eight matches remaining ahead of their clash with west London rivals Fulham on Easter Monday.

Still, Mbia is not giving up the fight and one of his main causes for optimism is because Remy, who scored 42 in 111 appearances for Marseille, is now leading the line.

Mbia was the one who actually broke the news to QPR fans on his Twitter account in eager fashion that Remy had agreed terms over an £8million deal two months ago. Mbia said: “I was excited because I knew he could help the team. He wants to do the best all the time and that is the sign of a good player.

“He will score many goals by the end of the season. He has scored three already but if he gets one opportunity in a match he will add to that.

“When he has a good ball he scores. I know because at Marseille he scored many goals. He had a little bit of an injury but now he is 100 per cent he can score many goals. It’s up to us to give him the service. We have a great understanding on the pitch. I know the runs he is going to make. He doesn’t like the ball to his feet all the time, sometimes he wants it in the space behind the defenders to run on to. We are lucky that we have many players who can provide that kind of ball, not just me.

“I was happy he came here because he thinks like I do. He wants success, he wants to win, he wants to progress. He wants to try to make something of himself, he wants to learn. When you come to training it’s important you come with this attitude.”

Given Remy’s age, pace and lethal finishing, QPR will face a tough task to keep him, even if they do pull off a miracle escape.

A release clause is believed to have been written into his contract should they go down, guaranteeing him a transfer for a certain fee.

“Loic can play for the biggest clubs in the world,” said Mbia. “Everybody knows that he is a very good player. But both he and I want to do everything to keep QPR in the Premier League, that is all we are concentrating on.

“To do that will be one of the biggest things to achieve in my life, it means I have done something for the people, for the club. Loic feels the same.

“At Marseille we won many trophies, that was an unbelievable thing, but this is a new challenge. If we do this, I will remember it forever. It may not be a medal but it’s a great achievement.”

Rangers go into the Fulham game on the back of two victories in three matches and Mbia added: “Just one month ago, everyone was saying it was finished for QPR. Now people are saying we can do it because we have won a few games recently.

“We need to stay in the Premier League because we have very good players, a great manager and the club have unbelievable fans.

“If we stay up, I can see the potential of this club to go far. But it’s important we do the first job of staying in the Premier League.”

Should they succeed, QPR could get to benefit from Mbia and Remy’s friendship for some time.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in