A career made up of many days, matches and moments. Some of them, though, are unforgettable and changed his life for good. The moment that put the name Benjamin Jacques Marcel Pavard up in lights is almost obvious: the 57th minute of France vs. Argentina on 30 June 2018 in the World Cup round of 16 in Russia. He scored a stunning goal that immediately went down in French football folklore.
Pavard's story began longer ago than that, however, in Maubeuge, in the Nord department of France, where Benjamin was born on 28 March 1996. It's a place far from the limelight, where Inter's new defender took his first steps. Pavard grew up in Jeumont, a small village of around 10,000 inhabitants close to the Belgian border. It was here that it all began. His passion for football was handed down to him by his father Frédéric, who played in the third tier of French football and showered the young Benjamin with gifts. The gift was always the same: a football.
After starting his footballing journey with US Jeumont, Pavard signed for the LOSC Lille academy, his favourite club, at nine years of age. Four times a week, his parents would drive him the 100km to training. Benjamin would soon move there to pursue his dream. Years of sacrifice and improvement led to his Ligue 1 debut against Nantes in January 2015.
Following two seasons of professional football in France, he moved over the border to Germany, to join VfB Stuttgart. Pavard played for Die Schwaben for three years, making 88 appearances and contributing to the club's promotion back to the Bundesliga. While at Stuttgart, the trajectory of his career changed for good. He was a surprise inclusion in Didier Deschamps' squad for the 2018 World Cup. Despite being a surprise call-up, he contributed heavily as Les Blues became world champions, playing six matches and scoring that incredible goal against Argentina, which was ultimately named goal of the tournament.
Since then, Pavard's career has taken off. He joined Bayern in 2019 and went on to win every single trophy available to him during his time with the Bavarian giants, even scoring the winner against Tigres as Die Roten were crowned Club World Cup champions. In total, he played 163 times for Bayern, scoring twice and winning eleven trophies. It was a spell laden with successes and silverware.
Hard work, experience and hunger to win, this is what Pavard will bring to the Nerazzurri now.
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