By hiring the services of Zaydou Youssouf for only 2 ME from Bordeaux, Saint-Etienne managed a very good operation last summer in the transfer window.
Victim of a serious knee injury, the 20-year-old Frenchman had previously established himself as an essential element of Claude Puel’s starting eleven in Forez with 16 appearances in Ligue 1. Without a doubt, Zaydou Youssouf is an excellent player Ligue 1 and its departure from Bordeaux for only 2 ME really poses a question, when we know that the strategy of the new Aquitaine shareholders is based on player trading. For L’Equipe correspondent in Saint-Etienne, Bernard Lions, the Greens took advantage of a genuine amateur error on the part of the Girondins in this matter. And they can already rub their hands of it while thinking of the future resale of the player in England …
“I have absolutely no idea how Saint-Étienne could buy a player like Youssouf at that price. When I knew he was going to come to Saint-Etienne for that price, I thought I hadn’t understood something. And I think it was a huge mistake that was made by the Girondins de Bordeaux to let him go. He’s a player who will explode in 2-3 years in England. He’s a box-to-box player, he’s powerful, athletic and physical, I think he’s an axis player and not a lane player. He has a measured ambition but he is determined ” noted the journalist in an interview with Girondins4Ever. Like many seriously injured players (Thauvin, Depay, Reine-Adelaïde), Zaydou Youssouf is one of the players who could make their return by the end of the season due to the competition gap due to the current health crisis.