RWANDA’s upcoming striker Elias Uzamukunda a.k.a baby has joined French third division club AS Cannes on a two and half year deal. The financial terms involved have not been revealed.

Uzamukunda arrived at AS Cannes in January to undergo a series of trials and what he did was enough to convince the club to offer him a long term contract which will see him feature in the Championnat National.

The Rwandan international will play alongside other Africans including Gabon’s John Tshibumbu, Mutamba Milambo (DR Congo), Karim Haderbache (Algeria), Biliaminou Tidjani (Togo), Lahoucine Kharbouch (Morocco), Abdellah Kharbouchi (Morocco), Robert Malm (Togo) and Algassimou Balde (Guinea).

Uzamukunda was quoted saying on the club website that he is focused on helping the club on qualifying for ligue 2 as well as earning a recall to the national team under new coach Sellas Tetteh ahead of the 2012 Nations’ Cup qualifiers.

"I want to integrate the group’s first team and play as much as possible so as to help my club qualify to ligue 2 next season.

The more I play here the higher the chances of being called on the national team,” Uzamukunda said.

The 20-year-old added that though it has taken him time to adapt to AS Cannes after a long injury, he has high hopes to return to his best sooner rather than later.

"The act of starting with the first team for me is great satisfaction. It rewards all the work I’ve done since my arrival in January.”

Uzamukunda went to France after last year’s African U-20 Youth Championship held in Kigali where the former AS Kigali and APR striker was one of championship’s top performers despite Rwanda failing to go past the group stages.

After the championship, it even took just a short while for the striker to travel to France for his first trial in February, which he was reported to have passed.

The player passed the first trials and the second at Nantes which he did under a new management [coaching staff] after the old regime of Lawrence Guyot was sacked following the club’s relegation to Ligue 2.

"Everything was fine, but when Guyot left Nantes, I spent five months worrying. When I came back from injury, I found that the appointed coaches didn’t like me and had recruited some players.”

"That’s when I started training with AS Cannes and here I am today,” Uzamukunda said.

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