After William Saliba and Wesley Fofana, the new nugget of ASSE, Lucas Gourna-Douath could also leave the club this summer. The club having financial difficulties, could let the player leave if a considerable offer were to arise.
A nugget of ASSE
Arrived at the ASSE training center in 2018, Lucas Gourna-Douath the Stéphanois midfielder is a nugget. He turned professional in June 2020 and signed his first contract with the Forez club, to which he is linked until 2023. Upon his arrival he established himself as an important element of the U17 group before being regularly summoned to National 2 with the reserve of AS Saint-Etienne and to make some appearances in the training of the professional group. Finally, he was launched in the derby against OL (2-1 defeat) on November 8, the barely 17-year-old player had won all the confidence of his coach, Claude Puel, who had been rave about his performance: “He shows a lot of maturity, impact. He has physical and technical quality,” said the Stéphanois coach.
A departure in the pipes?
ASSE experiencing a bad financial past, aggravated by the Covid-19 crisis which led to significant losses and the decline in TV rights, the club can hardly keep its best players. As had been the case with William saliba quickly left the Saint-Etienne club to join Arsenal in 2019. At the time AS Saint-Etienne had touched 29 million euros for the defender, his best sale (the player now loaned to OGC Nice). The same goes for Wesley Fofana, who also left shortly after his professional transition, transferred to Leicester City for 35 million euros in October 2020. The risk of seeing the young Lucas Gourna-Douath leave is real, if a significant offer is received. The value of the international U18 would be set at around 20 million euros according to an insider. The player would have caught the eye of big clubs like AC Milan, Chelsea and Leipzig. What to give desires elsewhere in Gourna-Douath? In any case, a departure that would be a blow for the supporters of the club who have followed the evolution of the Stéphane nugget since its beginnings. Especially since the economic crisis is accompanied by a sports crisis, while Sainté flirted with the red zone in the standings at the beginning of the year, before giving himself a little air during the last confrontations in Ligue 1.
By Hind