It had opened in July 2019, but less than three years after its creation, the training center of theUS Orleans is expected to officially close in the coming weeks. No official decision has been made yet but the announcement has already been made within the club at the beginning of April, as revealed by our colleagues from La République du Centre. And the reason for this closure is simple: the center costs a million 200,000 euros per season at the USO. It’s too expensive for the club, which wants save money and focus on the first team, whose objective is to return to Ligue 2 as quickly as possible.
“No additional resources” for the club
“It is acted on the principle“, says Boris Lucethe general director of the USO. “The motivation is purely financial, we made it work with a budget of just over a million euros, and it’s DIY. We need a million 500,000 euros, and we don’t have them at all“, continues the number two of the club. A decision understood and accepted by patrick laurentpresident of the USO Foot association, in particular in charge of the training center: “We did the accounts and we no longer have the means to finance it, it is reluctantly and with a lot of regrets, but the financial demands are catching up with us. Closing a center is always sad, because that’s where we may make the talents of tomorrow.”
But beware, this million 200,000 euros which will no longer be used at the training center will not be redirected to the first team to recruit or increase the payroll. “This money is taken from the overall budget, but there are no additional resources today due to the closure of the training center“, specifies Boris Luce.
We will probably be less attractive – David le Moal, educator and coach of the U18 and U19 of US Orléans
What consequences?
The center stop causes the end of hosting solutionsof restorationof medical and school follow-up on the Source website for boarders. If there will be no immediate sporting consequences, since the youth teams (U16, U17, U18 and U19) will continue to exist and play every weekend, the problem is at the image level. Without the “training center” label, difficult to attract the best potential.
“We will probably be less attractive. Clubs that have no accommodation, which have schooling without flexible schedules, it is not up to the training centers. In the competition, we risk being a notch below compared to other clubs.recognize David LeMoaleducator and coach of the U18 and U19 of theUS Orleanswho nevertheless looks to the future with optimism: “This does not prevent the fact that before the center, it was working rather well at our level and we know that the existing will still be positive“The idea will now be to focus even more on profiles from Orléans, Loiret and Center Val-de-Loire.
Expected exile of young players from the training center
But how was this decision made by young people and educators? According to David LeMoalthe U18 and 19 do not seem “not concerned“It’s more the lower categories who would ask questions.”The U16 and U17 are at the start of their training cycle, they must have visibility over around three years, so it’s more complicated with regard to reflection“, explains the 37-year-old Breton.
– Thomas Vichard
It remains to be seen whether the young people of the center will succeed in exile to other professional structures. The U18 and U19 coach expects it: “Even if we are going to function as a center, we will not have this entity there. So we can’t blame them for having hopes and ambitions. What we are trying to make them understand is that there will be no big changes for them, especially for players who are from Orleans or from the Center Val-de-Loire basin..”
At the end of these three years of existence (which is very little to “produce” professional footballers), US Orléans will have seen the emergence of Liamine Mokdad with the first team. The 21-year-old midfielder, one of the revelations of this season, finished his training in Loiret, after having studied atINF Clairefontaine and Aubervilliers.