At the heart of a season that promises to be once again complicated, AS Saint-Etienne had already started on the wrong foot with the Stéphane Ruffier affair.
After losing his starting place, the Stéphanois goalkeeper went to a standoff and chose the wrong man to do this. Claude Puel did not give up, and the former French international goalkeeper paid the price, with an absence from the squad that will continue and a sidelining which inevitably creates tensions. The manner may be poor, including a layoff procedure that did not go through on the part of the Greens, but the result is there. On top of that, the procedure continues to go on. And that’s no surprise for Daniel Riolo, for whom Stéphane Ruffier is really not a team player, and the RMC consultant has obviously been thinking that for a long time.
” Ruffier, I’ve always thought more harm than good. I have never been a fan. Even back in Galtier’s time, when he was in top form. I found him in his world. He had created a bubble with his trainer. He required to play low block and we saw that only his person interested him, his statistics. He had good seasons, we can’t deny that. On his line, he has always been very good. But he is not a modern goalkeeper: he does not come out of his six meters, he does not have a raise. It is not part of the collective. He is very selfish. Puel found that it couldn’t last like this. He wanted to change the face of the team and that required a change of goalkeeper. Sportingly, this change was justified but Ruffier did not agree to be put on the side. He has a very high opinion of himself but yet, he’s been in Saint-Etienne for nine or ten years and he’s never been asked. », Explained on Butfootballclub a Daniel Riolo for whom Stéphane Ruffier, completely in his bubble and difficult to manage, does not really make clubs want to recruit him, despite his sporting qualities.