Ghanaian defender, Gideon Mensah opens up on how he joined French Ligue 1 side, Auxerre citing how he first knew about the club through Djibril Cisse and goalkeeper Costil.

“To be fair, I didn't really know nothing about Auxerre. I didn't even know the team. I met Cissé when I was in Austria, back when he stopped playing football, he came there to do like a campaign.” The Ghanaian left back told Sporty FM.

Mensah against Messi and Zaire

“He came to train with us when I was in the second team. I know him to play Auxerre but I didn't know nothing about Auxerre. I remember when I left Bordeaux, I went back to Austria and then pre-season.” He added

“So one goalkeeper that I played with in Bordeaux, Costil Ben, he played in Rennes also. Now I think he's stopped his career. He went to Auxerre right from the season when we went down with Bordeaux.” The former WAFA lateral added.

Talking about how he got into contact with Auxerre for the first time, the former Red Bull Salzburg defender asserted:

“He posted a picture of them training and then I just happened to like the picture on his story on Instagram. Then he texted me like a few hours after and was like, oh, what are you doing this season? I'm like, I'm still with my club now. I'm doing pre-season.”

“I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm still waiting. And then he was like, oh, if you want to come speak to Auxerre, then you can come here. You know, like it's a good club.”

“No much pressure. The people here love the team and everything. I said, okay,”

“But then funny enough, after the conversation with him, it was like a few days after, and then my agent called that Auxerre called him that they want to have me to come there. I don't know if it was because of him or from my agent. But then, yeah, but prior to that, I had no idea what Auxerre was and then where it was and everything.” Mensah added.

“I just knew it was in France and I just knew that it came from Ligue 2 to Ligue 1. So that's what happened, that I went there.”

The Ghanaian star joined the French outfit in August 2022, that saw him ply his trade for two years before signing an extended two year contract until 2026 in October 2024.