AS Saint-Etienne : Is Buisine in the kitchen? | ASSE News

Zapping Goal! soccer club AS Saint-Etienne: The question of the day

Not easy to direct the recruitment of ASSE, while the club is penniless… This is the mission which was entrusted to Jean-Luc Buisine almost two years ago. Claude Puel then pushed David Wantier out to call on the former recruiting manager for Stade Rennais and LOSC, whom he had known at Les Dogues. But one thing is clear today: very few Saint-Etienne recruits are stamped Buisine…

He struggles to recruit, but also to downsize

The latter must, it is true, deal with limited means, but also with certain interferences. A year ago, Roland Romeyer thus sealed a file on which Buisine had made good progress: that of the transfer of the Egyptian Mostafa Mohamed. It was he who led the negotiations, and who had tried to catch up with the board of Zamalek, offended by the interview with Romeyer on Egyptian TV. In vain. ASSE then turned to Anthony Modeste… proposed by Serge Recordier, a close friend of Puel. A flop, like Panagiotis Retsos, proposed by Buisine. This Greek failure cooled a little more the relations between Puel and his recruiting manager, already fresh. Buisine, who does not live in Saint-Etienne and whose visits to the club are very rare, had had great difficulty working last summer, Puel systematically refusing the players offered. And even beating certain files that he had validated, like the arrival of Valère Germain. While Buisine and the striker had agreed on a three-year contract at €70,000 a month, Puel wanted to revise the terms of the contract by only offering one year and a salary of €50,000. .

Puel no longer trusted him, players don’t know him

From inside sources, Buisine saw Puel’s departure as a relief. Especially since the club has maintained its confidence in him, at least to manage this winter Mercato, with a Pascal Dupraz who has comforted him. “We work on the Mercato in a collegial way and the recruitment unit is involved. Jean-Luc Buisine has proven himself for a long time. We can rely on him. We rely on his expertise,” Dupraz said in early January. However, the Savoyard did not retain Ignacio Ramirez, the only green recruit of last summer, and he could only note the lack of condition of Joris Gnagnon, whom Buisine knew from Rennes … After the arrivals of Gnagnon , Sako, Bernardoni and Thioub, and while waiting for that of Eliaquim Mangala, ASSE has a fortnight left to strengthen itself and find the three profiles sought by Dupraz. But also to degrease. Because if Jean-Louis Gasset had strengthened the team during the last operation to maintain the Greens, four years ago, with the arrivals of Debuchy, M’Vila and Subotic, the return of Beric from loan, David Wantier had made a bit of space, and a lot of good, by managing to get elements like Söderlund, Diony, Dabo, Maïga and Lacroix out of the way… Buisine would need it to regain some credit, as he was accused of several grievances. Unknown to the players, most of whom have never had the opportunity to discuss with him, the former Lille player does not enjoy a good rating with the agents. Some are surprised by his lack of ideas, even his lack of network, apart from his ties kept in Rennes. But for a hiring manager…

to summarize

Since his arrival at ASSE two years ago in place of David Wantier, Jean-Luc Buisine has been slow to put his mark on the recruitment of the Greens… In the sights of Claude Puel who had brought him in, the former Lille resident is exceptionally discreet.

Laurent Hess