Much like he did in January, Mathieu Debuchy left Arsenal for a Ligue 1 side, except this time, he did it permanently.
Moving to Bordeaux back in 2016, the right-back was attempting to make Didier Deschamps’ squad for the Euros, and he’s doing it again for the World Cup in Russia.
This time around, he’s gone to Saint-Etienne, but it easily could’ve been West Brom instead, had Alan Pardew actually bothered to go through with the transfer.
Speaking to L’Equipe on Thursday about his move back to France, the 32-year-old also touched upon his failed transfer to the Hawthorns, with West Brom certainly making their interest known at one point during the January window.
He said: “I just didn’t hear back from the manager. Staying in England wasn’t a priority. Especially because at Saint-Etienne, I will play under a manager I can talk to and who knows me well. That was important.”
Signing a six-month contract with the Ligue 1 side, Debuchy was released from his Arsenal contract, a sign of thanks for everything he did to facilitate the next step in his career.
The veteran defender was the club’s fourth signing of the window, after Paul Georges Ntep, Yann M’Vila and Neven Subotic.
