Frédéric Paquet: "We have achieved our objectives"

Rémy Cabella's signing

It’s greatly satisfying to have been able to officially acquire Rémy Cabella. He was a key element of out success during the second half of last season. We need to strengthen our offensive line and the acquisition of Rémy responds to this necessity. Since the end of his loan, he always expressed a desire to make a long-term commitment to Saint-Etienne. He has completely adhered to our project and has shown his commitment to the club. His recruitment confirms the shareholders strong desire and our own to construct a competitive team.”

The recruitment

All the players who have arrived this summer and who have extended their contracts were our priority. There wasn’t a dossier that was more important than another. Certain negotiations were quick and that’s the reason why some players signed earlier. Today, we are happy to have great players and men with us. We’ve achieved our objectives: retain the experienced players who have allowed the club to a deliver a great performance during the second half of the season; welcome true reinforcements (Khazri); reduce the number of players on the team in order to make more room for the young players trained at the ASSE Academy. It’s a sports project shared by everyone and the coach plays the game perfectly. We still have to keep improving, in the recruitment department as in all departments of the club. The success of our recruitment of new players depends on the sports project. These last few months, the sporting context has changed a lot. The club has ceased to play for the European Cup after having participated in several European championships. While the Europa League requires a team of fully developed players in order to deal with a more important number of matches, the fact that we no longer play this competition leads us to reshape the team. These last months, the club has also changed coaches several times. These changes have had an impact on our recruitment. Every coach has his own Football philosophy and wants the profiles of the players on his team to correspond to his philosophy. Today, we are all in agreement when we say that we need stability. By keeping our coach and our players who have allowed us to deliver great performances during the second half of the last championship, we’re going in the right direction. Taking into account the changes observed these last few months, David Wantier and his team have done a good job. Our fixed objectives have been achieved. We have to continue working and progressing. Our Scouting Department was just reconstructed and needs time in order to be more effective.