Cagliari have confirmed that one of their young forwards, French striker Yael Trepy, is in intensive care in Sardinia after nearly drowning in a private swimming pool on Sunday afternoon, plunging the Serie A club into an anxious wait just two days after his side's Coppa Italia win.
The 20-year-old was on his day off at a villa in the Costa Smeralda area of northern Sardinia when he got into difficulty in the pool. According to Italian reports, Trepy cannot swim well and had entered the deep end before losing consciousness.
Bystanders pulled him from the water and called emergency services, who airlifted him by helicopter to the Santissima Annunziata Hospital in Sassari for urgent treatment.
ONE, citing the initial examinations, reported that no immediately life-threatening conditions had been identified and that his situation had "gradually stabilised" under close monitoring. Italian outlets covering the story through Sunday into Monday painted a more serious picture: Trepy was intubated on arrival due to respiratory distress, and Tuttosport and Calcio e Finanza both reported that scans found significant fluid in his lungs, complicating oxygen exchange, with doctors placing him in an induced coma to allow treatment to continue. The full picture of his condition is still emerging and may keep evolving over the coming days.
Cagliari have confirmed the hospitalisation through official channels, Il Post reported, but the club has not yet issued a detailed prognosis or a timeline for an update.
Trepy had been on the pitch just 48 hours earlier, starting for Cagliari in Friday's 1-0 Coppa Italia victory over Arezzo in the round of 32 — part of the reward for a breakthrough campaign in Sardinia.
Born in Villeneuve-Saint-Georges in 2006, Trepy joined Cagliari's academy in 2022 after being scouted from French side US Créteil-Lusitanos, signed his first professional contract in August 2024, and helped the club's Primavera side win the 2025 Coppa Italia Primavera, scoring in the final win over AC Milan. He made his senior Serie A debut this January, coming on in a 2-2 draw at Cremonese and scoring in the match.
The news has cast a shadow over Cagliari's pre-season build-up, with supporters and figures in Italian football sending messages of support for the teenager as the club and his family await further word from the hospital in Sassari.
