Communiqué officiel Saturday 27 July 2019 à 13h45

Ryad Boudebouz is one of the Verts!

The Algerian international midfielder has committed to AS Saint-Étienne until 2022.

This Saturday, Ryad Boudebouz officially become one of AS Saint-Étienne’s players. The club and Real Betis have reached an agreement for the transfer of the Algerian international midfielder to Saint-Étienne who has also signed a 3-year contract. He is ASSE’s 7th recruit for this new season.

Born in 1990 in Colmar, Ryad Boudebouz joined the FC Sochaux-Montbéliard Academy at 12 years of age. The left-handed player completed all his classes and signed his first professional contract there in 2008, the year when he also played his first Ligue 1 Conforama match (Nice 1-1 Sochaux, October 4th 2008).

He completed two successful seasons - 2010-2011 et 2011-2012 - marked by a total of 14 goals and 13 assists for FC Sochaux-Montbéliard, the Franco-Algerian (1.77m / 74 kg) was recruited by SC Bastia. With the Corsican club, he continued his progression and made it to the final of the Coupe de la Ligue in 2015 under the orders of Ghislain Printant, the current coach of the Verts.

His technical qualities, his vision of the game and his skill at handling dead ball situations seduced Montpellier, a club whose colours he defended from 2015 – 2017. With Montpellier, he made 12 assists in the 2015-2016 season, which made him the third best passer in the French Championship. The following season, from January 2017, he joined his former coach, Ghislain Printant, and succeeded, with him and one Jean-Louis Gasset, in maintaining Ligue 1 status.

After 71 matches, 13 goals and 21 assists for Montpellier HSC, Ryad Boudebouz left France for la Liga. Wearing the colours of Betis Séville then those of Celta Vigo, where he was loaned, the midfielder participated in 28 championship matches. It’s now in the service of AS Saint-Étienne that the International Algerian (25 matches, 2 goals), at 29 years of age, will make use of his technical qualities and his experience.

With ASSE, Ryad Boudebouz will wear the number 7.

> Ryad Boudebouz: "I’m very happy and very proud to sign with AS Saint-Étienne. I’m aware that I’m joining one of the great French clubs. Physically, I feel ready and I’m eager to be a part of the team. I hope to quickly integrate myself especially since I already know Ghislain Printant, who was my coach in Bastia, but also Julien Sablé, with whom I played in Corsica when he was still a player, Wahbi Khazri, one of my former teammates who wore the Bastian jersey and Yann M'Vila who I rubbed shoulders with on the French U19 team. I like fervent ambiances like the one in the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium and it’s a privilege to play in front of such fans.”

> Roland Romeyer (President of AS Saint-Étienne): "Ryad Boudebouz is a player that we’ve been following for several years. He was one of the headliners of our French Championship before leaving for Spain. Our fans and all Football fans can only be delighted that such a tactical player is returning to Ligue 1 Conforama. He has acquired much experience and we are convinced that all conditions have been met for him to develop in Saint-Étienne.”

(*) Denis Bouanga, Franck Honorat, Harold Moukoudi, Sergi Palencia, and Alpha Sissoko and Zaydou Youssouf are the other new Verts.