– Alexandre AUDABRAM
- The transfer window ended on Thursday evening; can we say that the last hours have been hectic?
We always know that we should not schedule a family dinner for the last hours of the transfer window even if we think we have anticipated a lot of things and that was the case until then. We had players who had exit vouchers, with whom we had the commitment to accept their departures if the offers were suitable for Stade de Reims. This was the case of Predrag Rajkovic, who wanted to leave. We had anticipated with the arrival of Patrick Pentz to replace him. Same thing for Wout Faes, and we had anticipated with Emmanuel Agbadou two months before so that he would be available to the coach very quickly. We would still have hoped to keep Wout Faes and not have any offers for him. So we had some, they were not suitable and not really supported by Italian clubs who requested it. We also knew that the Leicester club was interested in the file and when we saw that their central defender, Wesley Fofana, was going to leave, we thought a bit like in a game of dominoes that we were going to be attacked on Faes, and that’s what happened. As soon as we got what we wanted, he left. So today, we have new faces but I don’t think the team is weakened. After the teams were particularly brilliant because there are always players who have less playing time, or who have not acclimatized, and in these cases, solutions must be found. There have been transfers like for Moreto Cassama or Derek Kutesa, exits on loan with obligations to buy for a certain number of players who have left. Finally, the desire to develop players on loan as is the case for N’Dri Koffi who left for Portugal. All the players who were to leave, apart from Timothé Nkada, have left…
- And then there was this last day, these last hours with the sudden departure of El Bilal Touré… It was not planned, he was even in Angers on Wednesday evening…
Yes, he was at Angers and we had just extended his contract, so we believed in him. So it turns out that today he has a starving game time and a player who does not play is not happy. We were approached by clubs, in particular French clubs like Nantes who wanted a loan. We did not want to strengthen another French club, nor to do this kind of maneuver. And so we were approached with a substantial offer (1) by the Spanish club Almeria. And as often, we had players in our sights who could potentially replace him. So we processed his transfer, which was not very complicated because the Spanish club wanted him. We had to convince the player that it was a good thing for him, which took a little longer. And at the same time, we pressed the button to bring in a player to replace him.
- And all this in less than 24 hours, on the last day?
People don’t realize it, but I often say that the transfer window is 24 hours a day. they stayed working in Reims and when we came back from the trip at 2 am, they were still working in the offices. They did a non-stop week. With worked files. Often when you work in the last hours, there is what is called “panic recruitment”. Here, this is not the case. In this kind of situation, we can be led to make mistakes, in the past this happened to us, but I think today we are quite professional on this.
“The arrival of Noah Holm could have been done at the next transfer window”
- So the arrival of Noah Holm was triggered by the sudden departure of El Bilal Touré, but he was a player you followed, right?
Yes quite. The days of picking up a player “on a whim” are largely over. The players who arrive here know the project that was presented to them beforehand. This is also why it goes much faster. Outside the official transfer window periods, we receive their advisers, their agents, we present the Stade de Reims project, we show what we are doing. This was the case of Folarin Balogun. We had been on his file for 2 or 3 years, we had even hoped to sign him but he stayed with his club. Well, in the same way, we went to see Noah Holm in Norway, we presented the project to him. This could have been done in the next transfer window.
- The departure of Ilan Kebbal was not necessarily planned that one. What was his situation?
He occupies a position where there is a lot of competition and Ilan is no longer a very young player, he needs to play so he had to be able to express himself. He went on loan to Paris FC in Ligue 2, the purchase options will only come into play if the club reaches Ligue 1 which means that Ilan can very well come back next year after having had a very good season in League 2.
- There is also the case of Valon Berisha…
We haven’t had many proposals concerning Valon. He is a player who is certainly in a situation of failure but who has a course and an experience. Due to our connections with the Australian market, it is likely to leave for Melbourne City within a few days. The transfer window is not over there. We had other solutions for him, especially in Israel, but he wanted to show himself in Australia. So it’s a bit of a gamble because in Australia, there are salary-caps (Editor’s note: maximum salaries not to be exceeded), it’s a bit special. So things are not going to be done for free for the Stade de Reims, but we are betting on the fact that it can revive it. He can take pleasure and be put on display and then either he can enter another Australian club, or why not on the Asian market.
“We are on an envelope of 60 million euros in sales”
- What is your assessment at the conclusion of this transfer window?
Financially, the Stade de Reims comes out of it even stronger than it was. This will allow us to work even more calmly on future transfer windows. We finished this transfer window at 11 p.m. on Thursday, and we are already immersed in the next one. The sale of Hugo Ekitike gave us a financial strength that the SDR does not usually have because you have to understand that a player like Junya Ito cannot potentially and financially be in the Stade de Reims squad if you does not have extra-accounting elements to be able to respond and pay the exit clause (2). This is what happened…. And the money that we have been able to set aside will allow us to aim for targets that we cannot always reach because today, good players are expensive. And a club like Stade de Reims doesn’t have the means to have the best players in the world, so that will allow us to get those players.
- How much can you estimate the amount of transactions made?
When I say that our teams are working well, it is indeed reflected in the numbers. Basically, we are on an envelope of 60 million euros in sales. When we bear in mind that the transfers we have made so far, whether Boulaye Dia or Axel Disasi, these were transfers where, with bonuses, we reached 15 million euros. There, we blew the ceilings, and that’s good. Because once again, the money will not go into my pocket or into those of the Stade de Reims shareholders and it will allow the institution to continue to develop. This will allow us to grow and see the future with serenity, which may not be the case in all clubs.
- We talk a lot about bonuses in transactions, can you explain the mechanisms of bonuses by giving us examples?
There is indeed a fixed part in a transfer and then the bonuses are attached to several objectives. For example, the number of matches played by the player can trigger a bonus of 500,000 or one million euros. It can be his playing time, if the club qualifies for a European Cup. It has to do with the performance of the club and the role the player has played in their performance. And then there’s another aspect, it’s what we call the “sale on”, what we try to do on all transfers, namely when the player we sell is then resold , there is a percentage of the capital gain made by the club, which comes back to us. We are in a virtuous circle at the Stade de Reims, where we still earn money even though the player has not been with the club for 2 or 3 seasons. And this represents very large sums. In the case of Édouard Mendy, for example, we received more money when he was sold by Rennes to Chelsea (in August 2020) than when we sold him to Rennes (in July 2019). Another example, we touched on the transfer of Jordan Siebatcheu who has just left Switzerland for Berlin. As he had done all his training in Reims, we received 5% on his transfer.
- Have you received the last draft of the transfer of Rémi Oudin that the Girondins de Bordeaux were to pay you on August 31?
Yes. Good accounts make good friends. We watched very closely what was happening in Bordeaux but anyway, especially on the Franco-French market, all these things are official, legal, registered with the League so the Girondins de Bordeaux had no other solutions, if they wanted to continue their project, to pay and as they owed us 2 million euros for the transfer of Rémi Oudin, they paid us on time.
- Can we now say that you are preparing for the next winter transfer window which will start in early January?
Absolutely. It’s a big discussion that we had yesterday (Editor’s note: Thursday) between our teams, the general management and Oscar Garcia precisely not to say at the last moment, we are going to take – for example – a central defender of whom we are less sure . We will be able to start working today for the next transfer window, which I hope like all the last transfer windows, will help us to strengthen ourselves and not to adjust ourselves because the Stade de Reims would not have the results we want. .
(1) – Almeria made an offer to Stade de Reims which reaches 12 million euros, bonus included
(2) – Stade de Reims has paid a release clause set by the Genk club in Belgium on Junya Ito’s contract. It amounted to 10 million euros. Once paid, the Belgian club could not oppose the transfer since the player became free.