Han-Noah Massengo admits his long-term future remains undecided but with the Bristol City midfielder now talking about his time with the Robins in the past tense, wherever he ends up this summer will be away from Ashton Gate.
Massengo signed for Auxerre on loan at the end of the January window with the French club covering his wages until the end of the campaign, which will also coincide with his contract at City expiring.
The 21-year-old hadn’t played for the Robins since October, had been largely relegated to the Under-21 set-up, and as Nigel Pearson has since made it clear had no intention of renewing his contract or even wanted to be at the club anymore.
A premature parting of the ways, however disappointing given his talent, was therefore best for both parties, although Massengo’s next destination is of interest to City given they should be eligible for some degree of compensation given his status as an Under-21 player who had been offered new terms.
“For the moment, we haven't really talked about it (his future),” Massengo told media in France ahead of Auxerre’s game against Troyes. “But I am not going to lie. It's in the back of my mind because it's my future. It is important. But for the time being, it is not really the priority. There are a lot of upcoming deadlines, that is what's important: performing and delivering results.”
Since joining Auxerre, Massengo has made eight league appearances and delivered some impressive performances as they are embroiled in a relegation battle, lying 17th and in the final relegation place in Ligue 1, one point from safety with Saturday’s opponents directly below them in the standings.
“I was in a complicated situation at Bristol City,” Massengo told the Ligue 1 website. “The club offered me a contract extension but we couldn't agree. As I was going to be free at the end of the season, Bristol put me aside from October. I hardly trained with the professional group anymore, I only played as a reserve... I wanted to find some playing time and it turns out that AJA was looking for a midfielder.
"The challenge of helping the club to I liked staying in place, getting back to the French championship too, and so I signed with AJA at the end of January.”
Massengo’s exit after four years in the West Country represents something of a failed experiment for City who thought they had pulled off a genuine transfer coup when he was signed in the summer of 2019 from Monaco for an initial £2.7m, with the remainder of the fee then determined by various clauses.
He showed clear periods of progression that he could eventually become an elite-level Championship performer, if not much higher, but that was then followed by periods of huge consistency and over his 110 appearances in a City shirt it remains a case of what could have been.
Massengo speaks warmly of his time in the city as, despite his struggles towards the later stages of his time in BS3, he retained a significant following among the fanbase, particularly among younger supporters, and having also moved his father and sisters to join him, it proved an important period in his life and career.
“It was above all a human experience,” Massengo added. “It's not necessarily what you think of first, but I had to learn English, discover a new city, a new country, a new culture. It's another way of looking at life. It helped me a lot. I enriched myself a lot by going to England, whether in football or in everyday life.
"To come to football, it was at Bristol City that I did my first full season. Over there, there are a lot of matches, the rhythm is more intense than in France. I learned at the physical level, at the technical level and at the mental level because I lived through some difficult times: there were periods when I wasn't playing, we changed coaches several times.
“We had to adapt physically and mentally. The two go together. When you play every 3-4 days, you are tired and, at the beginning, it is in the head that it is the hardest because you always have to be in condition to play,” he said.
“At first, I was probably too involved. I hadn't realised that, like in a match, there are highs and lows. I was all the time at full speed. In the long run, it wasn't good. I had to learn to manage myself to be mentally fresh on game days.
"I had to learn to get some air and not just think about football during the week because if you're not careful and you think about the next game right away, you don't give yourself time to clear your head. It was becoming toxic and unhealthy to think only of football.”
Massengo earned a call-up to the France Under-21 squad over the international break after a long period in exile from the set-up, a result of playing consistently for Auxerre but also, more pertinently, the fact he’s now performing in France.
The midfielder also qualifies to play or Congo and has visited the federation’s facilities, but his move back to his homeland has, in his mind, boosted his prospects at international level, something that will no doubt come into his thinking when deciding his next destination this summer.
“If I chose Auxerre, it was above all to find playing time again, but of course playing in France changes a lot of things,” he added. “In England, I performed well but people don't necessarily watch the Championship. Today, if I have a good match in Ligue 1, it will probably have more resonance. It was not in my thinking at the start but if Ligue 1 offers me more visibility, it is an advantage for me.”
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