• The Girondins de Bordeaux host the Stade de Reims this Sunday (3 p.m.) in an already crucial match for the rest of the season.

  • Vladimir Petkovic is expected to revive Fransergio in midfield with the suspensions of Otavio and Onana.

  • The Brazilian, the most expensive rookie of the summer, has been completely out of the game since his arrival this summer.

It's not tomorrow, it wasn't yesterday, it's now as a certain Pascal Dupraz would say. If the Girondins do not yet play their skin in Ligue 1 like Téfécé at the time of this incredible talk by the Savoyard coach, it is indeed a first moment of truth that awaits them this Sunday (3 p.m.) against the Stade from Reims. And one of them will be particularly awaited: Fransergio. In the absence of Otavio and Onana (both suspended) in the midfield, the Brazilian will have the difficult task of taking over.

Problem for the Navy and White, the former captain of Braga, the most expensive recruit of the summer (4.5 million euros excluding bonus), is completely out of the game since his arrival.

Very far from his best level, unable for the moment to respond to the physical dimension of the French championship, Fransergio has already cost several goals to his team (Lens and Montpellier).

For two games, he was even bench.

A situation that not many people expected given the boy's CV.

So what's the matter with the midfielder?

A real diesel?

Without looking for excuses at all costs, it is often necessary to look in the retro to try to understand the difficulties of the Brazilian.

The player experienced a rather special arrival.

Very quickly agree with Bordeaux as revealed by

20 Minutes

from August 11, he did not sign his contract until August 25, due to a lack of departures at the club. All the while, he first trained alone in Braga then waited a week in a hotel in Bordeaux before finally signing up for three years (plus an optional year). Not the best of preparations. And even less when the mechanics start to rust, at 31 years old. Result of the races: he is far from posting the best physical performances at the Girondins and above all, he is very severely shaken by his opponents during his first appearances.

“For me, there is nothing abnormal, answers Marcelo Lipatin, it is not a physical, technical or tactical problem! It's just a matter of adaptation. Everything has changed for him. The club, the language, the country… He's digesting it all. "The former Uruguayan striker in particular passed by PSG at the beginning of his career and current midfielder agent recalls in passing that Fransergio had" known the same thing "when he arrived in Braga in 2017. His first season had even been nightmarish with a rupture of the cruciate ligaments of the right knee at the beginning of December. More generally, and apart from last season, Fransergio is a real diesel with often a checkered start to the season. Admar Lopes, the technical director of the Girondins, also asks for patience with this player:“They are humans and they each have their own adaptability. It is not a question of age or experience. It's more a question of culture and style of play. ”Why not. But that never stopped a player from putting in a good shoulder kick or slamming a pass on a pitch.

He was finally able to find his family

Since his arrival, the ball often burns Fransergio's feet. As if we were dealing with a young 18-year-old player and not a 31-year-old veteran presented by the new management as a leader on and off the pitch. So, is there another explanation for its state of form? "For the moment, he does not have his family, it is not obvious", slipped a member of the management of the Girondins at the end of September, while also pointing to the fact that the midfielder "was putting too much pressure ". Since the one who describes himself as an "emotional" person was finally able to find his family, his wife and his two children two weeks ago. He has also found a new home. “He will quickly come back to his level. He understands French better and better. I bet he will have a very good match against Reims ”,promises Marcelo Lipatin.

At the club, the message is clear, don't panic, says a leader:

“Football is not two or ten games.

If that was the case, we would have lost a lot of money on a lot of players.

A good player remains a good player, it's just people that you have to work on.

"

It is not at all time to question the midfielder.

And anyway, it's not the kind of house as Admar Lopes recalled in our columns a week ago: “One of the strengths of our success in Monaco and Lille is to never leave knock off the players!

"It will take that to help him quickly regain his best level and to prevent him from becoming the new head of Turk of Bordeaux supporters like a certain Nicolas De Préville in his time ...

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