Saint-Etienne (AFP)

At 19, the young central defender of Saint-Etienne, Wesley Fofana is already the center of attention and English football is making his eyes soft, but ASSE seems determined to keep his jewel, at least for this season.

Due to a painful knee, the player who has not already participated in the draw obtained in Nantes on Sunday (2-2), remains uncertain to face Rennes on Saturday at the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium (5:00 p.m.).

This young player is not even an international Espoirs, but the offers are already dizzying: Leicester continues to raise the stakes, today to the tune of 32 million euros, and West Ham is also said to have entered the race for 25 M EUR and 11 M EUR in bonuses (33 million pounds).

But ASSE ensures not to be a salesperson to preserve the sporting project dear to its general manager Claude Puel, in post since October 4, which aims to promote young people.

- Sirens -

Two years ago, the Greens sold William Saliba (19 at the time) to Arsenal for EUR 25m and EUR 5m in bonuses before being loaned out last season, but this type of arrangement does not seem not possible with Leicester.

"When we sell Saliba to make up a deficit, it's a shame," Puel lamented in January.

"If we have to give up our young people at the end of a season, it is impossible to progress and take steps," he also warned.

For now, the latter opposes a veto to sirens from outside to the chagrin of Fofana himself, in agreement with Leicester's contractual proposal for five years.

The player had opened up to the daily L'Equipe, at the beginning of September, to discuss proposals far superior to what he receives in Saint-Etienne with a monthly salary excluding bonuses of 75,000 euros and his desire to play in England.

"Wesley Fofana is part of the sporting project," nevertheless insists the technician from Saint-Etienne, again questioned Thursday at a press conference on this subject which will remain sensitive at least until October 5, date of the end of the transfer window.

- Other players to leave -

“I don't want to do anything special for a player. We should expect it because we were the first to start the championship (in August in France, in September in the other major championships, Editor's note). It gets excited. was on display as the transfer window ends on October 5. It is conceivable that these are always special moments for a club, a coach or a management, "said Puel evasive.

"But on the other hand, we need to reduce the payroll. We will see if it is possible or not," he recalled, a way of looking away from players who receive high salaries and whose the club seeks to undo.

Midfielder Ryad Boudebouz, striker Wahbi Khazri and goalkeeper Stéphane Ruffier are still in the workforce, without playing, while Yann M'Vila and Loïs Diony have left, free, to Olympiakos, Piraeus and Angers.

The recruitment of ASSE remains suspended from the departure of undesirable people or the ability to resist on the Fofana file, if the stakes continue to rise.

The two shareholders, Bernard Caïazzo and Roland Romeyer, will they then always be behind Claude Puel, member of the management board to whom they have entrusted the sports sector as "general manager" in the English style?

© 2020 AFP