INTERVIEW
The departure of this legend from the club created a surprise. In May, Grégory Coupet, the goalkeeper coach of Olympique Lyonnais, who was coming to the end of his contract, signed up for two years in Dijon. A choice which he explained then in particular by the lack of consideration of his club, which he had not heard from to discuss a possible extension. Invited on Saturday evening of Europe 1 Sport, the former French international returned to this break which leaves him with a bitter taste, even if he says he is very happy with his arrival in Dijon.
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Since his departure, Grégory Coupet claims to have had "no phone calls" from his former leaders. "I think the page has been turned," he continues, before telling the conditions of his departure. "We know that we always anticipate the end of the season to anticipate the next one. And I always like to know a little bit what the club aspires to in terms of goalkeepers," said the goalkeepers' coach. In addition, "my personal situation led me to be at the end of the contract".
"I wanted to know what they wanted to do with me"
Faced with this situation, Grégory Coupet was awaiting a sign from his superiors. "I wanted to know what they wanted to do with me, if they extended me, if they did not extend me," he said again. From the month of February, he confides, "I regularly asked for news about my guards (...) and if on my side, we were on an extension. But I had no news". "Inwardly, I thought it smelled bad," he said of the lack of response.
The former pillar of the Lyon team, with whom he has won the French championship seven times, also tried to probe his former teammate Juninho, currently sports director, but he either "could not tell me what that it was my personal situation. "
"I have a real misunderstanding"
"I was not asking for an upgrade or an incredible number of years, just to know if the adventure continues or not," annoyed Grégory Coupet, also irritated by the arguments put forward by the club's management. "I was told that it was complicated with confinement, that we did not know if the championship was going to resume or not. I have a real misunderstanding, because, whether we play the Champions League or only the championship, you need a goalkeeper coach. "
"There was no way to have frank and direct contact with anyone, it's quite incredible", still regrets the guest of Europe 1, confident that he would have "liked to have Jean- Michel Aulas on the phone ". And to conclude: "I would have liked them to reproach me with very concrete things, so that at least I could question myself".