Saint-Etienne (AFP)
AS Saint-Etienne (L1) coach Claude Puel dismissed the iconic Greens goalkeeper Stéphane Ruffier for the entire 2020-21 season, we learned from the club on Wednesday, confirming information from Infosport + .
Ruffier, who has a year of contract to ensure, is not in the trio of players who will keep the cage of ASSE during the next season, adds the same source.
"I warned the two players. One (note: Jessy Moulin) that he was going to start the season, the other (note: Stéphane Ruffier) that he would be second. And the second confirmed to me that he would never be the understudy of Jessy Moulin. That's why we built our trio and Stéphane will not be part of it, "said the Stéphane coach in an interview broadcast Wednesday by the sports channel of the Canal + group.
This interview was carried out on Monday, the management of AS Saint-Etienne told AFP.
The latter also indicates that the trio of goalkeepers selected for this season is made up of Jessy Moulin, 34, with Stefan Bajic, 18, as a lining and Etienne Green, 20, as the third goalkeeper.
Stéphane Ruffier, 33, returned to training last week, following a layoff sanctioned by a six-day payroll deduction.
The club management accuses him of having refused to participate in part of the training on July 10 when he was summoned with the unsuccessful players to play against Nice the next day at the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium.
Asked by AFP, Stéphane Ruffier's agent did not wish to comment on this formalization of the sidelining of the player, nor wanted to indicate whether he was looking for a new club.
Stéphane Ruffier, who has played 383 matches in the Stéphane jersey since his arrival in summer 2011 from Monaco, is the goalkeeper who has played the most with the Greens in the 1st division, ahead of the legendary Ivan Curkovic.
© 2020 AFP