An overzealous teammate’s father almost ended Charles-Hubert Itandje’s football career before it had even began. During a match for local club Lilas in Paris’ northern suburbs, a teenage Itandje was singled out for some particularly vitriolic criticism. It never got physical, but the young ‘keeper was sufficiently shocked by the outburst that he gave the game up and followed a friend into the world of kick-boxing.

His self-imposed exile was short lived. A trial with Parisian club Red Star soon saw Itandje’s 1m93cm frame return between the posts and it has hardly strayed since. It was with Red Star’s youth team that Itandje’s star began its interminable rise. His single season with the capital’s second side was enough to alert Europe’s top talent scouts and the 17-year-old was soon entertaining offers from France’s top clubs and abroad. In the end it was Lens who beat off concerted bids from Liverpool and Fulham for the young man’s signature, and he was soon learning his trade by working alongside the club’s incumbent No 1 Guillaume Warmuz.

After a season oscillating between the first-team bench and the reserves, the 2002-03 campaign promised more of the same until a series of high-profile blunders by Warmuz delivered Itandje the Christmas present he had been dreaming of. Warmuz quit the club in January and Coach Jöel Muller preferred to give the 20-year-old stand-in his full backing rather than buy a more experienced custodian.

By the season’s end, Warmuz was little more than a running joke and Itandje was the new hero at the Stade Félix-Bollaert. A call up to the Espoirs followed as Itandje’s performances for Lens installed him as one of France’s most promising young ‘keepers. After playing all but three games for Les Sang et Or last season, Itandje suffered a form slump towards the end of 2004, as Lens flirted with the relegation zone.

However, following the arrival of new Coach Francis Gillot, Itandje – like his teammates – is finally rediscovering his best form. His giant frame, plus feline reflexes, make him a formidable shot-stopper and during this season’s darker moments he re-emerged as one of the side’s leading lights.