“This is not the first time that I say it, but as the pill is not about to pass, I will repeat myself: I consider that ASSE made a huge mistake by transferring William Saliba when he was 18 years old , to Arsenal, even if it is his record transfer (€ 29m). A player like him, such a strong defender, I have never seen one in Sainté. Neither Zouma nor Perrin nor even Sagnol had given me this impression. Apart from scoring goals, I don’t see what Saliba lacks when he is not yet 20 years old. And certainly not the class.
In addition, he’s a leader, the kind of player you can rely on, a competitor. I dreamed that ASSE would build a minimum around him, with Wesley Fofana. After the Gambardella Cup, the Greens could have won the Coupe de France with these two, in July. I think in any case that they would have had even more chances to beat PSG if Saliba had been on the pitch at the Stade de France. And I am convinced that he will quickly splash the Premier League with his talent with Arsenal before joining the France team. We will say to ourselves that we had an incredible nugget in our ranks but that we let it slip away without her having had time to play even one whole season in the first team. Sacrificed on the altar of football business, Saliba, to pay off our debts, by dint of having bought goats and giving golden contracts to former international pre-retirees … “
Laurent HESS
Vagner DIAS
“I would obviously have agreed with Laurent on the case of William Saliba but his departure being recorded in 2019. There was no chance for Claude Puel to retain him for an additional season. After having hesitated for a long time with Loïc Perrin (whom I would have liked to see replenished if his condition permitted), I still wanted to highlight Vagner Dias Gonçalves in relation to a potential that will never be exploited by ASSE and who, like Habib Maïga, could explode near Metz.
I don’t think the young Cape Verdean (24 years old) was less strong than Arnaud Nordin. We are talking about a percussion player who has shown very good things with Nancy in a calendar year (37 matches TTC, 14 goals, 5 assists) before his serious injury. Of course, AS Saint-Etienne needed money and logic wanted that in the event of a good offer he would pack his bags, but it will remain for me a regret not to have seen him in Ligue 1 with the green jersey.
Vagner Dias was far above Ligue 2 and if history regularly shows that being a cador in the anteroom is not enough to shine at the next level, I remained convinced that, by his technique, the native of Mindelo would have knew how to find a place. But it took time for him to come back from injury. In its sales needs, ASSE had none, preferring to recover around 3 M € directly. “
Alexandre CORBOZ