He is almost alone in the barracks of a stéphanoise attack damaged since the start of the season: Denis Bouanga, who arrived from Nîmes this summer, and top scorer of Saint-Etienne wandering in the league, will be the main green threat against Rennes, Thursday in the semi-final of the Coupe de France.
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At 25, he has given the tempo a bit among the Greens lately. He even gives a smile sometimes, in a club which needs it terribly. Saint-Étienne has been wading since the start of the season, struggling to float above the red line of the relegation zone (16th). And if the Greens are still breathing, Bouanga is not for nothing, top scorer with 9 goals and 3 assists.
Landed in Nîmes this summer for 4.5 million euros, the Gabonese took only a few months to assert himself as the essential part of a moribund attack. After an injury to his right foot just before the winter break that kept him away from the pitch for a month, the Gabonese international has resumed his marks in the Eleven Saint Etienne rather well.
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Since his return, he has scored in the last two Coupe de France matches in Monaco (1-0), then in the quarterfinals against Epinal (2-1), with a superb goal, a curled shot full skylight.
“Denis has great potential. He’s had a little more trouble expressing it since he came back from an injury. It’s true that he went on very quickly, with a lot of playing time since we have injuries in the attacking sector, and not least “
, recognized general manager Claude Puel in mid-February.
“As a result, we rely a lot on him. He must regain the expression, the lightness, the freshness he had before his injury. He is on the right track ”
, said the technician again, “Someone healthy, hardworking, with great technical or physical dispositions”
. For Bouanga, there is no time to breathe, therefore, due to the staffing problems of ASSE: he will still be the spearhead of the Greens against Stade Rennes.
“We missed him”
“It is true that, from time to time, I would like to relieve him”
, admits Puel. Because the former Nîmois spares no effort, whether on the front of the attack or more often on the left flank of the device, in a role of piston.
“He likes this positioning which allows him to have space, to be able to go from far away, not to be tight at marking. And he likes after projecting himself and in these cases, he can find himself in one against one ”
, analyzes the Stéphane coach. “It is very interesting when he gets back on his right foot. But he can play a notch higher of course, be of service to the axis even if he is not a striker by trade. He doesn’t have all the moves, the center-forward game that we would expect. “
, comments Claude Puel again.
“We missed him during his injury because he was the one who decanted a lot of situations in matches”
, he adds. While he would like to follow in the footsteps of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, another Gabonese international who passed through Saint-Etienne and who had contributed to the League cup victory in 2013, Denis Bouanga hopes in turn to take the Greens to the Stade de France .