Claude Puel considers himself “on a rescue mission” from Saint-Etienne, 16th and in the fight to stay in Ligue 1, he told AFP, recalling that ASSE lacks “means” to recruit , but hopes to “build” with “quality young people”. “We have responsibilities when we are at ASSE. (When I arrived) I saw an interesting club, with a quality group but aging, which had to be opened for the future. I tried to develop young players. The economic model was no longer tenable after the club got into heavy debt to try to titillate opponents at the top of the ranking, ”he said.
And to add: “I participated in two mercatos. We were only able to sign Yvan Neyou or Yvann Maçon and nothing else. We are the 20th club in terms of transfer possibilities. This shows that the club was in great debt. It was also necessary to sell Franck Honorat or Vagner Dias, young people, simply to make up for deficits. It is a very worrying situation economically and sportingly because we could not recruit but also because we had not developed enough young people. There were a lot of things to sort out in the short term and since I arrived I consider myself on a mission, quite simply, to save the club. It is not a hackneyed word. And on top of that came this Covid pandemic which amplifies the problems of ASSE and all French clubs. ”