“A few recruits, very few” said Johan Cavalli a few meters from the locker room, on the evening of the decisive victory against Toulouse. Evasive but still informative, the sports director of the ACA did not give figures, but we understood that he wanted to keep a very similar framework.
The defense in particular, the best of this season in Ligue 2 with only 19 goals conceded, could change very little. “It was our men who brought us up”, even insisted J. Cavalli.
Some players are, however, at the end of their contract. Cedric Avinel, boss of the line of defense and at the club since 2017, remained evasive on the issue when taking pictures with the supporters on the lawn. Clement Vidal he was more frank on the antenna of France Bleu Hérault. The central defender, author of a good end to the season, not only reaffirmed his desire to stay in Ajaccio, but also slipped that the leaders wanted to keep him. His loan without option to buy by his club of Montpellier comes to an end this summer.
Mohamed Youssouf and Gédéon Kalulu, two full-backs, are also due on June 30, 2022, in this sector of play. They will leave free if they do not extend.
Lack of offensive efficiency
The sector that seems to require the most improvement is that of the attack. Olivier Pantaloni was already expressing this wish after the party on the following Sunday. “The season is going to be difficult. […] We will also have to be much more efficient on the offensive level. We were “surgical” (sic) this year, we didn’t create a lot of chances but we managed to put them to the bottom. Next year, we will have to be more enterprising offensively and keep our defensive bases”. No target number of recruits has been mentioned, but according to our information, the attack could be the most modified line at the end of the summer transfer window.
The only attacking player to have experienced Ligue 1 recently, Jean-Philippe Krasso is also lent by St Etienne. In the event of the Greens descending into Ligue 2 at the end of the current season, the 24-year-old Franco-Ivorian will certainly have a dilemma to decide. El Idrissy, Moussiti-Oko, Courtet and Botue are all on contract until June 2023, Arconte, professional only since July 2021, the east until 2025. There remains the question of Bayala, Out of contract in a few days.
The latter’s Ligue 2 and ACA experience, combined with that of Qazim Laci and especially of Mathieu Coutadeur in the middle of the field (which automatically stacks for an additional year, i.e. until 2024), could be a guarantee of cohesion in this new adventure that will be Ligue 1. Without forgetting of course the case of Riad Nouri, at the end of the contract on June 30, 2022, and who would love to discover Ligue 1 with his club which he himself propelled into the elite by scoring two goals in the last two games. (1-1 in Grenoble, 1-0 against Toulouse).