West Ham United signed French midfielder Soungoutou Magassa from AS Monaco on a long-term contract in August 2025.
Born in the Paris suburb of Stains, Magassa played junior football in the city before moving to Monaco's Academy at the age of 13 and rose through the ranks, playing for the B team and making his first-team debut at 18.
Magassa played over 50 senior games for Monaco, including multiple appearances in the UEFA Champions League, captained France U21s and won an Olympic Silver Medal in Paris in 2024.
Career
Born to Malian parents in the suburb of Stains in northern Paris on 8 October 2003…Raised in Sucy-en-Brie in the south east of the French capital, where he grew up playing for four local clubs, starting at Sucy FC and RC Joinville between the ages of five and nine, then Lusitanos Saint-Maur for four seasons and FC Gobelins for one season...Scouted by AS Monaco and joined the club’s famous Academy at the age of 14 in 2018…Signed his first professional contract at 17 in 2021 and played regularly in Monaco’s B team in the French fourth tier, the Championnat National 2, in 2021/22. He made 21 appearances, captaining the team and scoring on his final appearance in a 3-0 win at Marignane Gignac FC on 21 May 2022…Made his first-team debut for AS Monaco at 18, appearing as a late substitute in a 3-1 French Cup sixth-round win at Quevilly Rouen on 2 January 2022…Made his Ligue 1 debut when he started a 1-1 draw against Stade Rennais at Monaco’s Stade Louis II…Made a second Ligue 1 appearance for AS Monaco in a 2-2 draw at FC Nantes in April 2023…Established himself in Monaco’s first-team squad in 2023/24, playing predominantly as a left centre-back…Started Monaco’s first eight Ligue 1 matches, winning five and losing just one, and tasted defeat only three times in 21 appearances as the club finished second in the table behind only champions Paris Saint-Germain in 2023/24…Appeared three times for France at the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup finals in Argentina, as a substitute against South Korea and starting against The Gambia and Honduras…Made his France U21 debut in a UEFA European Championship qualifying win in Bosnia in October 2023, and played four times at the 2025 UEFA European U21 Championship finals in Slovakia, helping France beat Poland and Denmark on their way to the semi-finals…Included in Thierry Henry’s France squad for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, where the host nation finished as runners-up to Spain…Appeared alongside Alexandre Lacazette, Jean-Philippe Mateta and Michael Olise and helped France defeat the United States, New Zealand, Argentina and Egypt before losing on penalties to Spain in the final…Awarded the French Ordre national du Mérite – Knight of the National Order of Merit – by President Emmanuel Macron in 2024 after helping France U23s reach the final of the Summer Olympic Football Tournament…Moved to a defensive midfield role and appeared 31 times in all competitions for Monaco in 2024/25, including seven UEFA Champions League ties against Arsenal, Aston Villa, Inter Milan, Benfica, Bologna and Red Star Belgrade…Featured in the Trophée des Champions defeat by Paris Saint-Germain.
Honours
France Olympic
Silver Medal (2024)
Knight of the National Order of Merit (2024)