Romain Hamouma did not hide his joy on Friday morning in training. Injured in the left thigh during the reception of Marseille (0-2, February 5), the striker from Saint-Etienne (6 goals and 3 assists in 19 games this season) can once again frolick on the grass. The same goes for Wahbi Khazri (6 goals and 4 assists), victim of a similar injury during the same match. Their healing protocol involved a five-week unavailability. This deadline having come to an end on Wednesday, both could have applied for a place in the group which was to move to Monaco, Sunday.
Like Khazri, Hamouma was disillusioned by learning, at the end of training, the decision of the Professional Football League (LFP) to suspend Ligue 1 until further notice. In the process, their coach Claude Puel decreed a forced vacation until Monday, March 23. Hamouma (32) and Khazri (29) will take the opportunity to breathe, after all the efforts made to return to the field. The same will apply to the entire workforce, one of the most sought after in L1 this season, with those from Lille, Lyon, Paris and Rennes (already 41 matches played).
While the majority of players will let their body rest, others will benefit from more time to heal it. This is the case with Yohan Cabaye. Hit the right adductor and left in the 39th minute of the semi-final of the Coupe de France against Rennes (2-1, March 5), he could not have played in the Principality. Jean-Eudes Aholou, he could not have compensated for his absence. Again injured against Bordeaux (1-1, last Sunday), the midfielder loaned by the ASM needs fifteen days to three weeks to heal his sprained right ankle.
Individualized programs
If Kévin Monnet-Paquet and Zaydou Youssouf, operated on the left knee respectively on October 17 and February 20, are done with this season, Loïc Perrin could come out big winner of this forced break. The captain of the Greens (34 years old) is struggling to recover from his injury to the left hamstring during a mundane training on February 20. It is still in the recovery phase. The more time passes, the more he sees his chances of increasing the studs increasing. Because if ASSE has suspended all training, the L’Étrat center remains open to its tenants. Starting with the medical service of the club. He will continue to provide care, to improve the recovery of the injured and to be ready to intervene in the event that one of the players becomes affected by the coronavirus.
Apart from this threat, the players will behave as if they were in the middle of the winter break. Thierry Cotte, the physical trainer, gave them an individual program. It differs depending on the situation of each. Perrin will not talk in the same way as Khazri, just back on the field, which will not follow the same program as Wesley Fofana, who has just chained the matches. And so on. Unless there is a domestic accident, all should be operational again in the event of the L1 resumption. In view of the cascade of wounded who plunges the season of the Greens, this would be a great first.