"Not so surprising" ... Why did the Girondins recruit no one?

Alain Roche with Jean-Louis Gasset, the Girondins coach.

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• The Girondins de Bordeaux have completed their transfer window with zero recruits on the clock.

• The club is going through a real austerity cure which could well continue during the next two mercatos.

• This summer, the leaders managed to reduce the payroll a bit but not to make a big transfer which would take the strain off the club's finances a bit.

“This is the strategy of the big clubs!

“, This former leader of the Girondins laughs behind his phone.

This Tuesday morning, he is in a teasing mood when he mentions the fact that the Bordeaux club has recruited absolutely no one during this summer transfer window like… Real Madrid and Valencia.

These are the only three clubs in this case in the five major European leagues.

For the followers of the club with the scapular even if this remains an anomaly given the recent sporting performances, it is “not that surprising” confides a leader to

The Girondins are today in a very complicated financial situation, even critical, like others.

Except that in Bordeaux, you should not count on the shareholder to make a small difference.

Even a few tens of thousands of euros.

A penny is a penny for King Street, the club's proprietary investment fund.

And even more when you've lost it for two years ...

Official: the Girondins de Bordeaux are the only club in France without any recruits for this 2020 summer transfer window. Pic.twitter.com/Z9d7eE8Cs2

- Scipio (@Scipionista) October 5, 2020

If the Americans agreed to put 30 million euros in the coffers last July to pass the DNCG, there is no question of putting more on the transfer market.

Frédéric Longuépée's sole objective is to save even the smallest of candles.

As with all clubs, revenues are plummeting.

Last season, a meeting brought in an average of 750,000 euros to the Girondins in ticket sales.

Today, it is not far from zero, while ticketing is 23% of the budget for Girondins.

Coronavirus in Bordeaux: The 1,000 spectator gauge, a fatal blow for the Girondins and the UBB?

https://t.co/8s4tjlmATl via @ 20minutesBord pic.twitter.com/EIbxDO3QmU

- 20minutesbordeaux (@ 20minutesbord) September 15, 2020

A declining payroll but no big transfer

"We have the impression that the descent into hell continues, the slope is very slippery and by dint of reducing the wing ...", worries a connoisseur of the club.

Regardless, you had to sell whatever the cost this summer (Bernardoni, Benrahou and Kamano), lend (Pardo, Lauray and Medioub) or simply leave free (Mendy, Boupendza and Lottin) to reduce Bordeaux payroll as much as possible.

The departure of Paulo Sousa is also part of this strategy since if the Portuguese coach and his staff left with a nice check for 2.6 million euros, the club will save his huge salary (nearly 2.5 million euros). annual euros according to RMC per season).

In the end, the objective of Frédéric Longuépée and his new sports director, Alain Roche, is half fulfilled since it surely lacks in their roadmap a big transfer: “They have sales obligations but today, Roche is not yet in an emergency because from the start, he deployed a strategy on three mercatos until June 2021 ”, slips one of his relatives.

Perhaps, but that does not necessarily reassure its owners.

According to information from

King Street has recently discussed with Fortress to postpone the repayment of the 40 million euros credit line opened with this investment fund to buy the club two years ago.

Due to Covid-19, KS hopes to postpone the start of the maturities of this loan after 2022.

Even free players are too expensive ...

And the athlete in all this?

Even the main interested party Jean-Louis Gasset recognizes that it is difficult: “When I speak of arrivals, the leaders speak to me of departures.

We talk more about accounting than football.

The new Bordeaux coach will therefore have taken less than two months to complain (gently) about his management.

It's a little faster than Paulo Sousa to whom we had made promises.

JLG, him, can not either shoot red balls on his employer because as he very often reminds it, "he knew the deal" as his sports director before coming: "Alain Roche is not disillusioned because he was at the aware of the situation for months but it remains very hard to live and frankly given all the players at the end of the contract and the savings to be made, the worst is surely to come next June ”, affirms one of his acquaintances.

⚽️ # Ligue1UberEats: Economic assessment of #mercato with the balance of transfers according to @ Transfermarkt👇

Top 3 with a balance +

1⃣ @losclive € 53.7 M

2⃣ @ASSEofficiel 39.5

3⃣ @OL 15.4

Top 3 with a balance -

1⃣ @PSG_inside -56 M €

2⃣ @AS_Monaco -26.7

3⃣ @staderennais -22.7 pic.twitter.com/yJgrN9zIg2

- Sport Business Observatory (@Obs_Sport_Biz) October 6, 2020

We will have to do with this workforce.

A wobbly workforce with a bloated defense, a correct attack and especially a midfielder very limited in quantity.

Cyprien, Jean Lucas, Dominguez, Ntcham… All of them could have come to strengthen this sector of play, but for that, you need a minimum of investment.

Otavio is therefore the only professional defensive midfielder in the workforce this Tuesday.

Jean-Louis Gasset must pray every evening so that the Brazilian does not get injured and is never suspended.

At least this situation leaves room for young people (Bakwa, Traoré or Mara) and that was the starting point.

Still, it's a big bet and it limits Bordeaux ambitions.

So here is the number of #Girondins on October 6, 2020.

I did this roughly by zone, do not pay too much attention to the positions of each.

A brief overview.

pic.twitter.com/FsaziS6gqf

- Florent Toniutti (@FlorentToniutti) October 6, 2020

The top 10 will already be good, as Roche says.

A goal far from the past of the Girondins de Bordeaux, a historic French football club.

The situation is such that the club has not made an offer to Hatem Ben Arfa, a completely free player, reports

At the same time, why take a player in a position already (too) provided for the leaders?

But it's not like this team is full of talent ...

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