Despite a great summer of transfer activity, which included selling William Saliba to Arsenal, Saint-Etienne struggled for form in the early stages of the season.
The Ligue 1 side were 20th at one point, which is when they decided to swap managers and hire Claude Puel, formerly of Leicester City and Southampton.
Yet to lose a game since taking over, the French manager is trying to put his stamp on his new team, but he’s a bit frustrated at the fact he won’t be able to count on one of his best players beyond the current campaign.
In an interview with L’Equipe, Puel was asked about the recruitment policy in place at Saint-Etienne, which has primarily been about buying experienced players rather than investing in the future.
He said: “It’s done, adopted and I’ve got nothing to say because it helped perform. Saint-Etienne have held their rank these past few years. Finishing fourth is a great result. Work was done in the short-term. Is this model viable? I don’t think it can make the club a success.
“Rather than buying a ready made player, I’d rather we buy him to develop him and help him grow. It’s hard to accept that we sell our best player, a young kid, to help fill the coffers. When you have to sell your gems to round up the budget and then do short term deals to fill in the gaps, you’re being reactionary”.
L’Equipe make it a point to explain that Puel was talking about William Saliba’s sale to Arsenal, who kindly let the young Frenchman stay at the Ligue 1 side for an extra year rather than bring him to the Emirates to immediately play him.
Instead, Unai Emery decided to bring in David Luiz for the short-term help in defence, and will be hoping Saliba has a great season under Puel to then help him for the 2020-21 campaign.
As for the French manager, he’ll have to make do without his best player next year and hope Saint-Etienne listen to him by going to find the next gem for him to mould.
