Jean-Louis Gasset hopes to be heard.

-

FRANCK FIFE / AFP

  • The Girondins face Strasbourg at La Meinau this Sunday (3 p.m.) during the 16th day of Ligue 1.

  • Back in Bordeaux for five months, Jean-Louis Gasset is already actively preparing the winter transfer window to rebalance its workforce.

  • The club, like its coach, wants above all to reduce fat in order to reduce the wage bill in a very complicated economic context.

    There is no illusion about the arrival of possible recruits.

Jean-Louis Gasset is indeed a football coach and not a mason.

However, today, he dreams of only one thing: to rebuild the entire workforce of the Girondins de Bordeaux from top to bottom.

Not with a hammer but with a sledgehammer to start with.

Six months after his return to the Château du Haillan, the Marine et Blanc coach has a serious desire for change.

And it is more and more difficult to hide it over the weeks in the face of the lack of consistency of his players.

So, after the new relapse of his players against AS Saint-Etienne on Wednesday, he began to prepare the ground two weeks before the opening of the winter transfer window, January 2, 2021: “For the moment, I still do the inventory but in mid-season, it will be necessary to sit down and discuss with the persons in charge [of the club] to take stock and compensate for the shortcomings of this team.

And there is!

The message is clear, Jean-Louis Gasset hopes for movements in January, even in this transition season.

Whether in the direction of departures or arrivals, despite the total lack of resources for its sports director Alain Roche, whom he met on this subject Friday morning.

A social plan for the workforce

At least with him but also with his CEO, Frédéric Longuépée and his shareholder, King Street, they all come together on one thing: we must downsize this workforce.

“I have a group of 24 players (having played at least a minute this season) that I did not build myself, he recalls, there are people in this group who are sad, unhappy or embittered because they don't have enough playing time. It's heavy and I don't want to continue living with them.

The converse is surely true.

Good thing seven of them are at the end of their contract in June 2021 (Sabaly, Pablo, Baysse, De Préville, Jovanovic, Poundjé and the third goalkeeper Mandanda).

When the market opens, they will be free to commit wherever they want and immediately join their new club against a transfer fee or wait until June to leave for free.

To date, Jean-Louis Gasset has not really taken a public position on these ends of the contract, with the possible exception of Paul Baysse: “It's complicated for him to do so now vis-à-vis the rest of the group. , one can take it badly compared to the other and then you will maybe need some until June so you cannot lose it now by announcing a decision already ”, explains one of his relatives.

According to information from

20 Minutes,

the Girondins made a proposal for a three-year extension to Pablo a month ago.

If the Brazilian defender is not closed to the idea of ​​continuing the adventure in "his club of heart", the two parties have "not yet found an agreement", adds someone close to the file.

Bordeaux-Nice: "He is even sharper" ... Pablo, the man who falls right into the Girondins https://t.co/uYV1WHKDAE via @ 20minutesBord pic.twitter.com/1TJCezJzs4

- 20minutesbordeaux (@ 20minutesbord) September 27, 2020

Paul Baysse could also receive a proposal but with a sharp drop in salary (100,000 euros currently).

Concerning Nicolas De Préville, "it would be madness" to extend it, says a member of the club.

Still, the situation is not without consequences for some players, just like the former Lille who is only a shadow of himself this season.

I dare to hope that it is not the contractual situations of some that turn their heads upside down because no matter what each person's situation is, we are under contract until the end of June.

Whatever happens, we have to play for the club.

And I think that a player who is at the end of his contract, he must give the maximum to try to extend or show himself to try to leave ”- launches Paul Baysse.

In any case with monthly salaries (gross) ranging from 80,000 (Poundjé) to 160,000 (De Préville) euros, the Girondins would save nearly eight million euros if they all left the club by June.

The economy on the wage bill would rise to ten million with the departure of Mandanda and other young people, also at the end of their contract.

Maja rather than Basic

But, it will also be necessary to sell for Bordeaux with finances which are in the bright red.

Some even suggest that the payment of salaries for January is on hold, in particular because of the dispute over TV rights.

At the top of the list of players in the transfer market is defender Edson Mexer.

The Mozambican, who has yet to play a minute this season (like Jovanovic) due to injury and Gasset's choices, is open to a start.

But, it will surely be a loan at first this winter.

Josh Maja, striker of the Girondins de Bordeaux.

- G. Often / AFP

To recover cash, the Girondins will not hesitate to push out their two most "bankable" players: Josh Maja and Toma Basic.

"Last summer, the club refused offers but there, he will say yes to the first who arrives on the office, the situation is too urgent", explains a leader.

Unlike the last transfer window, the English striker has surely today more chances to leave than the Croatian midfielder.

For three reasons: he is not performing on the pitch, Toma Basic does not want to leave the club in the middle of the season and Gasset has, in quantity, a lot of people as a striker.

Josh Maja still has good odds across the Channel and clubs like Sheffield United or Birmingham, who are very interested in him, could bid around six / seven million euros this winter according to our information.

Finally, it is said that the Navy and White would like to separate from Rémi Oudin or in any case lend him this winter to give him playing time.

Jean Lucas, an opportunity to be seized?

The final objective is to tighten the group to 17/18 elements during this transfer window and by June, especially if there is no European Cup next season.

All these departures will not be replaced because, as explained by Jean-Louis Gasset, priority will be given to young people (Traoré, Bakwa, Mara, Bessilé or Sissokho).

But also because the club has made a commitment to the DNCG (National Management Control Department) to sell three players at least before any major expenditure on the transfer market according to

South West.

The Girondins therefore have no room for maneuver.

Jean Lucas, OL midfielder.

- Michael Zemanek / BPI / REX / SIPA

However, the Bordeaux coach would not be against obtaining in January a "very good player" in attack to gain quality and another in midfield to relieve Otavio.

At the center-forward position, Bordeaux inquired a few weeks ago, like many other clubs, about the situation of M'Baye Niang for a loan according to information from

20 Minutes.

But the salary of the Rennes striker (more than 200,000 euros) is a huge obstacle because the Bretons should continue to take responsibility for a large part of it and especially since the player no longer seems to want to leave.

In the middle, will the Girondins relaunch the Jean Lucas track?

OL have authorized the player to find a club on loan for the second part of the season.

The Brazilian wants to stay in France and Bordeaux could open its doors to him.

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