Jean-François Soucasse swept aside the news from ASSE yesterday in a long interview with the newspaper Progress. The executive president of the Saint-Etienne club took the opportunity to provide an important clarification on a big rumor launched a few days ago.
Jean-François Soucasse denies the Jean-Luc Buisine rumor
At the beginning of September, the daily The team revealed that AS Saint-Étienne is seriously considering parting ways with its recruiting director, Jean-Luc Buisine. According to the sports newspaper, the 59-year-old is “Already given leaving and gone”. Not being really close to Claude Puel and even less to Bernard Caïazzo, the former Lille resident would therefore be living his last months in Saint-Étienne. Completely false information according to the executive chairman of the Greens. Jean-François Soucasse admits on the contrary that he cannot fault Jean-Luc Buisine at all, since his daily task is very difficult when the finances he needs to work are not available.
“The rumor that Jean-Luc Buisine is in danger? No. We cannot blame him for not making transfers at 15 million euros “, launched the Stéphanois leader. Before adding: “We know that Jean-Luc’s job is difficult when you have limited means. It’s like finding the five-legged sheep. Recruiting players to appease the vox populi doesn’t make sense. The goal is to improve the team, nothing else. With Ignacio Ramirez, we hope to have found the player we need. “ Continuing, Soucasse announced the color for summer 2022.
Mercato ASSE: A huge wave of departures in sight
Discreet about the transfer window in recent years, ASSE should be quite active at the end of the 2021-2022 season. Indeed, Jean-François Soucasse has openly announced that several elements of Claude Puel’s current squad will be packing their bags next summer, and thus lighten the club’s finances.
“At the end of this season, 16 players will be at the end of their contract with more or less important salaries. On July 1, 2022, the club will then have greater leeway to control its payroll. In the space of 18 months, we will have significantly reduced it. Besides that, all our young players will have long-term contracts. They represent the future of the club, ”he explained. In terms of players at the end of their contract on June 30, we must mention Ryad Boudebouz, Timothée Kolodziejczak, Romain Hamouma, Wahbi Khazri, Miguel Trauco or Arnaud Nordin.