AS Saint-Etienne cannot do it: after ten matches in a row without winning, extra-sporting problems to manage and a still smaller workforce, the Greens are going through a bad patch.
In the eye of the storm, Claude Puel tries to limit the damage, even if the thorny legacy of the club does not help in his task.
However, since his arrival 14 months ago, the former coach of Olympique Lyonnais has been trying to create a sports project in the Forez: with limited means, Puel is based on young people, from the training center or bought from lower cost, to ensure a little more financial peace for the club.
An important argument for management, at a time when the health crisis and the conflict of TV rights are worrying many Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 teams.
Departures never replaced
But now, this sporting project must prove itself: 15th in Ligue 1 with two small points ahead of play-off Reims, ASSSE has not seen victory since mid-September.
But at the time of facing Angers, this Friday (9 p.m.), Claude Puel is still confident. “I simply believe in my team and in what we put in place. We must materialize all this through results and find the success that eludes us,” he explained at a pre-match press conference .
The 59-year-old Castres technician is not helped by the absences of Denis Bouanga, Wahbi Khazri, Romain Hamouma or Timothée Kolodziejczak, making the integration of young shoots like Ivan Neyou and Adil Aouchiche more complicated, or of the promising generation victorious from the Gambardella Cup in 2019.
A generation deprived of two of its gems: 19-year-old center-backs William Saliba and Wesley Fofana, who joined Arsenal and Leicester for € 25m and € 35m respectively.
These sums have never been reinvested in recruiting, because ASSE still lives in fear of bankruptcy.
Never far from the red zone, the Greens have had to embark on several rescue operations in recent years. Missions made possible only by the acquisition of confirmed players, who blew up the club’s payroll. These salaries were financed by loans that Saint-Etienne must pay today.
Big wages pushed to leave the green ship
“When I arrived, I had the perception of a high-level group but which could not register in the future. The club was going into the wall. It was in debt to follow this pattern that had lived” , had also assured Claude Puel to the newspaper The team a few days after his arrival in October 2019.
General manager and member of the club’s executive board, Puel has since sought to downsize the workforce of underperforming players with high salaries while promoting young people (Abi, Camara, Moukoudi) and recruiting cheaply (Neyou, Krasso, Mason ).
A “strategy”, which allowed him to free himself from Yann M’Vila, Loïs Diony, Loïc Perrin and Yohan Cabaye.
Stéphane Ruffier, who should be dismissed by the club as the newspaper L’Equipe announced this Friday, Wahbi Khazri and Ryad Boudebouz could also be prompted to leave the Loire.
Departures that could allow ASSE to consider certain movements during the winter transfer window.
The recruitment of a center-forward and the return on loan of Saliba, which failed to materialize in October, thus appear to be in the plans of Claude Puel.
Enough to experience a much more serene second part of the season?