Lopes reste, Guion toujours là, Furlan en embuscade
The shock wave has still not subsided. Three days after the formalization of the relegation of the Girondins de Bordeaux in Ligue 2, many of them still do not want to believe it. 31 years that the club had not experienced a descent. And again, it was administrative and not athletic at the time. It will therefore take some time to digest this demotion. But time, precisely, the Marines and White do not have any. Between a crucial meeting in front the DNCG (National Management Control Department) scheduled for mid-June and a resumption of the L2 championship on July 30, the next few weeks are likely to be very eventful at the Château du Haillan.
It is for this reason that Gérard Lopez did not wait until last Saturday to activate. The owner and president of the Girondins de Bordeaux must plug a hole of 40 to 45 million to allow the club to get back to the best in Ligue 2. According to South West, he could even be forced to put almost 20 million euros out of his pocket. This could drop to around 12-13 million if the Spanish-Luxembourgish businessman finds a new international sponsor for the club, a file he has been working on for months. He was also this Monday in Paris to discuss with potential future partners. While waiting to find out if he expresses progress on this subject and especially the green light from the financial policeman of French football, the sportsman is not on stand-by: “Everything is moving forward” confides one of Gérard’s relatives. Lopez. That is to say ?
The choice of the coach not yet quite decided
For the moment, the resumption of training has been set for June 23, including the traditional pre-season physical tests. But who will be there that day? That’s the big question. Gérard Lopez has already announced that he is “ready” to make “significant changes”. He could, for example, appoint a deputy chairman. As indicated by The Team, the name of Klaus Allofs has been circulating in recent days but the profile of the current sports director of Fortuna Dusseldorf in Germany would not have completely convinced the Bordeaux decision-makers. The latter are also looking for a suitable person to support Admar Lopes, the young technical director of the club for a year, and to relieve him of certain missions. Indeed, according to information from 20 minutes, the Portuguese was confirmed in his role despite the disastrous season of the Girondins de Bordeaux.
Proof of this is that Admar Lopes went to London on Tuesday with his coach David Guion to meet President Gérard Lopez to take stock of the season. The former Stade de Reims coach left the English capital without really knowing more about his future. If the trend is still towards a departure after the failure of its mission to keep the club in Ligue 1, it is still part of the short list drawn up by the Bordeaux management. She has decided to leave herself a few more days to make her choice, which will depend above all on the project chosen for next season. Either the Girondins are divided with a very young workforce, or with more experienced players seasoned in Ligue 2. This will also result from the means to recruit. In this short list, we also find the names of Jean-Marc Furlan and Laurent Batlles as revealed Foot Mercato, The first even acts as a favorite according to our information.
But his contractual situation is not clear. The current Auxerre coach is preparing to play in the Ligue 1 accession play-off against Saint-Etienne this week. In the event of a climb, his contract will be automatically extended by one year. One has chosen is sure his name has been proposed to the club and he would see himself coming full circle at home in Gironde. Laurent Battles, he is very courted. He is in particular the priority of AS Saint-Etienne in the event of a descent into L2 and the Greens can also put on him in the event of maintenance. In short, this dam will be particularly scrutinized by the management of the Girondins de Bordeaux. Another French coach from a mid-table Ligue 1 club has also offered. On the other hand, the Didier Tholot track never existed.
The club wants to keep a dozen players with Mara as a standard
And the players in all this? After a last breakfast together at Haillan on Sunday morning when Admar Lopes made them understand that very few would wear the Girondins jersey one day, they went on vacation. Behind the scenes, the technical director has already advanced his pawns with the obligation this summer to sell for nearly 22 million euros. According to information from 20 minutes, the Portuguese wishes to keep only a dozen elements: Lacoux, Mara, Sissokho, Ignatenko, Gregersen, Briand (a one-year extension will be offered to him), Kidjé, Bokele, Bakwa and perhaps Medioub. Regarding Ahmehdozic, one of the only satisfactions of the season, everything will depend on the financial situation of the club. It will first of all be necessary to exercise its purchase option (4 million euros) before surely resisting the offers. In private, the young defender would have expressed the wish to stay in Bordeaux.
All other players in the squad had to leave the Navy and White. Between contract endings (Costil, Traoré, Adli, Marcelo, Malbec), loan returns (Mensah, Mangas, Pembélé, Dilrosun, Guilavogui), players at market value (Elis, Hwang, Oudin, Onana, Maja) and the undesirables, (Niang, Zerkane, Fransergio, Kwateng, Baysse, Mexer), this represents about twenty players.
One of the first big challenges for the club, if it returns to Ligue 2, will be to be able to keep its young and very promising striker, Sekou Mara. The Girondins do not hide it, they want to rebuild the club around him. The player, he said after the last match of the season his intention to continue the adventure: “I already know what I will do next year, I will be with the Girondins de Bordeaux. I am under contract with the club! I will be there next season! “Except that the financial aspect should quickly take over in this case. Today, French clubs like Lyon, Reims, Lens or German (Cologne and Leverkusen) follow the Bordeaux center-forward very closely and could quickly make an offer. And there it will be very difficult for the Navy and White to say no to an offer of 15 million euros given the financial situation of the club.