Ligue 1 The Mercato Is Open For Business..

Yesterday was the opening of the Ligue 1 transfer window and, as a number of early moves were completed and made public, a number of clubs are still unclear on their direction for next season. Teams either with newly-appointed managers or with want-away players need to resolve their situations soon before delving into the market.

A flurry of early moves saw Morgan Amalfitano, the coveted Lorient creative midfielder join Marseille, Nancy’s underrated midfielder Julien Féret rejoin Rennes and Arles-Avignon’s journeyman midfielder Camel Meriem has joined Nice with Nicolas Douchez expected to finalise his switch to Paris Saint-Germain shortly.

Brest also announced a trio of new signings in Lionel Cappone, Ben Eden Basat and Jhon Culma, but many of these moves had been expected and it is unclear where the next significant transfer will come from.

One thing that does seem certain though is that this summer many Premier League sides will be looking across the channel to France for transfer bargains. Early speculation has linked a host of Ligue 1 players with switches to England, and the Premier League looks set to raid France of some of its best talent.

Yohan Cabaye of Lille is expected to complete his surprise transfer to Newcastle United whilst teammate Gervinho also looks set to cross the channel, having informed Les Dogues of his desire to play in the Premier League. Arsenal and Manchester City have been linked with his signature, along with a number of European sides but the Ivorian is holding out for a move to the EPL.

Kévin Gameiro, the second highest goalscorer in Ligue 1 last season is also on the move. Having told his club Lorient of his intention to leave, the French international is attracting great interest throughout Europe. Newcastle and Everton have been credited with strong interest, but Gameiro has declared that he will play for either boyhood club PSG or Spanish giants Valencia, appearing to rule the pair out.

Youssef El-Arabi however, is more open to playing in England without the lure of Champions League football and the 17-goal Caen striker has been attracting interest from Stoke, Newcastle and Everton recently. Another player on the Toffees’ radar is Bruno Ecuele Manga of Lorient. The strong, Gabonese centre-back has informed Lorient of his desire to leave and Everton are leading the chase for his signature.

Following their disastrous relegation Monaco look set to lose a host of players that include Park Chu-Young and Benjamin Moukandjo. Chu-Young has been in contact with Bolton Wanderers who want him to link up with fellow South Korean Lee Chung-Yong, whilst Moukandjo, a Cameroonian international who impressed since his arrival in January, has been linked with a move to Kenny Dalglish’s Liverpool.

Cédric Hengbart of Auxerre has claimed recently to be the centre of heated interest from Stoke, QPR, Wigan and Blackburn Rovers and the defender looks to be on the move after a disappointing season in Burgundy that almost ended in relegation. Finally, Sylvain Marveaux of Rennes who is soon to be out of contract has claimed long-standing interest from Liverpool but has yet to confirm his switch.

It appears that many of Ligue 1’s clubs this summer will be faced with the task of rebuilding and would be open to doing some business to fund this. Lyon and Marseille both suffered disappointing seasons and will restructure their sides, whilst Bordeaux want to re-establish themselves at the top of Ligue 1 but face stiff competition from PSG who now have Qatari investors to fund their quest to become France’s top team. Lille also want to stay competitive and maintain last season’s momentum despite the impending departures of key players Cabaye and Gervinho.

With many clubs needing to sell-to-buy, there is some great value in the French transfer market this summer. Now, with Manchester United set to sign Phil Jones and Ashley Young for a combined £30 million and Liverpool signing Jordan Henderson for £18 million, many of the sides outside the top six in England are unable to compete with the supposed “premium price” of British players. This makes Ligue 1 an extremely attractive proposition. Sides with smaller budgets are able to buy quality players from France at a lower cost than a British equivalent and incoming talent from across the channel has become a regular feature of recent British transfer windows.

However, Premier League sides are not the only clubs looking at Ligue 1 as an attractive finishing school and source of cheap talent. La Liga and Bundesliga sides have both ventured into the French market recently with fair success and the big clubs from Spain and Germany have been linked with a number of France’s best talents again.

The Premier League and Ligue 1 are also set to clash over a number of potential signings. PSG have recently been linked with Shinji Kagawa of Borussia Dortmund and Keisuke Honda of CSKA Moscow. The Japanese pair have also attracted interest from Premier League sides including Manchester United and Liverpool recently, and it remains to be seen whether they still retain an interest in either player. Also, PSG are believed to be intent on bringing out-of-favour Bulgarian Dimitar Berbatov to the French capital.

However, until Ligue 1’s managerial merry-go-round comes to a standstill, the transfer window is unlikely to reach full-throttle. Sochaux have just appointed Mehmed Baždarević as manager after Francis Gillot left to take up the vacancy at Bordeaux and Auxerre have recently made former PSG boss Laurent Fournier their replacement for Jean Fernandez. Nancy and Valenciennes have also recently named new coaches and Lyon face a tough decision over Claude Puel’s future. PSG boss Antoine Kombouaré is also waiting to hear if he is part of the club’s new vision for the future, but Didier Deschamps has just committed his future to Marseille.

So for the moment there is more activity on the management front, but once this is resolved, expect the Ligue 1 transfer market to step up a gear or two and spring to life.

Gerard Houllier-A Reflection On His Time At Aston Villa

Gérard Houllier arrived at Aston Villa in September 2010, with the club in disarray as Martin O’Neill, who had completely changed the club in his four years in charge, walked out five days before the beginning of the 2010-11 season. With rumours of player celebration following his exit, Villa’s hierarchy needed to appoint somebody with experience who could steady the ship, trim the wage bill (one of chairman Randy Lerner’s main aims for the season) and utilise the club’s exciting youth prospects.

After extensive negotiations, they chose Houllier-a successful manager with years of experience, a reputation as a developer of young players and a burning desire to return to club football. Having convinced the board and his doctors that he was fit enough to return to football management, he severed his ties with the French Football Federation and took the job.

Despite what some may see as a disappointing season for Villa, the club have a lot to be grateful to the Frenchman for. His no-nonsense approach to management has helped the club root out the disruptive influences in a team that had obviously seen little discipline during MON’s reign. The players struggled to adapt to a more hands-on approach that required them to spend more time on the training pitch, paying more attention to their technical approach than they did under the previous regime. Many players were vocal in their opposition to doing extra fitness training and it soon became clear that Houllier’s methods did not sit well within the dressing room.

Partly due to a high number of injuries and partly because he realised that Villa have an outstanding current crop of promising youngsters, Houllier introduced members of the youth team into the first team almost immediately. Marc Albrighton and Barry Bannan, who had featured under caretaker manager Kevin Macdonald at the beginning of the season, became regulars in the first XI and Villa’s offensive play in Houllier’s early games benefitted as a result. In addition to Albrighton and Bannan, Ciaran Clark was introduced to the defence and impressed greatly, excelling by virtue of his adaptability (played as left-back, defensive midfielder and centre-back) and quickly established himself in the side.

In addition to this, Houllier now leaves a stronger squad than the one he inherited after some extremely good business in the January transfer window. An initial £18 million purchase of Darren Bent from Sunderland made people baulk at the time, but following his nine goals in 16 matches, goals that arguably kept the club in the league, it seems an absolute bargain. Villa have lacked a serial goalscorer since Dwight Yorke and now with Bent at the club, if they can keep hold of Stewart Downing and Ashley Young, the club can legitimately look at breaking back into the Premier League’s top six again next year.

Coupled with the addition of marauding full-back Kyle Walker, Villa’s offensive threats multiplied greatly in the second half of the season and the players both made immediate impacts, scoring on their debuts and setting their standards for the next few months. Walker’s presence not only saw Villa looking more dangerous going forward but it also saw the defence finally look more balanced as Houllier compensated for his reluctance to utilise Stephen Warnock on the left by playing Clark there and Walker on the right. His preferred system of playing with one man up front and another just behind him got the best out of Young, Bent and Downing and if the club can keep these three prized assets next season they will finish higher than ninth place.

As well as Walker and Bent, Houllier introduced Jean II Makoun to the team signing him for £3.5 million from Olympique Lyonnais. Despite not producing his best form in his first five months at Villa, Makoun looks like a solid, combative midfielder, a type of player that they had been lacking under O’Neill as he chose to prefer Stilian Petrov in that role.

As a result of these transfer dealings, the club have been able to dispose of players that were surplus to requirements, past their best and earning far too much money. Nigel Reo-Coker, John Carew and Steve Sidwell have been shown the door whilst Houllier’s experiment with Robert Pires has also proved to be a costly error and he has since departed. Brad Friedel has also recently left and without these players the now have freed up a large tranche of wages, fulfilling one of Lerner’s key aims for this season.

Desite these relative successes; Houllier never established a relationship between himself and the fans. Until the Liverpool match at Anfield in December, fans had been happy to give the Frenchman a chance but following what was seen as a love-in and his faux-pas in the post-match press conference ("If I have got to lose 3-0, I would prefer it to be to them as I like Liverpool"), they began to turn on him and he never really recovered his reputation. Indeed, he actually repeated this mistake when Villa faced Manchester City in the FA Cup in March. Less than a month after beating them at home in the league, Houllier justified his weakened team selection by saying “First of all, you play against a bigger team than ours. Sorry, Manchester City at the moment, are above us” and then added “I knew they would put their best side out and their squad is better than ours.” This defeatist attitude and clear disregard for the cup outraged fans and led to calls for him to be sacked.

The fans also struggled with what they perceived to be a lack of passion. Houllier, a man with a history of heart problems, often cut a forlorn and inept figure on the touchline and, used to Martin O’Neill’s infectious exuberance, the fans quickly decided that he was not enthusiastic enough about the club. This was probably untrue, but the fans thrive on what they see and what they saw each week was a decrepit old man who was the polar opposite of the Ulsterman.

His damaged relationship with the fans was not helped by an equally fractious relationship with the players, as stories of in-fighting and dressing room factions became common. Although this was not entirely his fault as the players were not professional enough to accept his old-school, hands-on approach, his appointment of Gary McAllister as assistant manager, a man with a reputation as a bully and a hard-man, did not help. The Scotsman was at odds with members of the first team, culminating in an ugly incident during a team bonding break.

Houllier was also guilty of letting pretty squabbles get in the way of his strongest line-up. Stephen Warnock, a player with a history under the Frenchman, was demoted from the first team to the reserves and then stripped of his squad number after refusing to move his family to Birmingham. Although Houllier had a fair point, this should not have been an issue at the time as Warnock was in form and also the club’s only natural left-back. Bearing a grudge from his time at Liverpool, Houllier’s refusal to let go of previous issues impaired his ability to deal with the disruptive influences in the team effectively.

However, in a job where you are judged mainly on your ability to get results, Houllier was not successful. His team selections were criticised as Villa plummeted down the table, although it was not his fault that the team experienced an injury crisis that deprived them of the majority of their first team members over a four-month period, the Frenchman had no choice but to blood the youngsters. However, his refusal to play players such as Michael Bradley, a player that he had identified and brought in during the January transfer window was baffling, and he often refused to use players like John Carew despite an absence of any other fit senior strikers.

Essentially, Gérard Houllier is a man that belongs to another era of football. His traditional, hands-on, disciplinarian approach was not respected by the players, the same players who probably had it too easy under Martin O’Neill and had become accustomed to very little preparation work, and he was constantly undermined in the dressing room. He has demonstrated that he still has a good eye for a player and, with regards to where he goes next, although I feel that a return to the touchlines is now impossible, a return for Houllier as a Director of Football somewhere would be a good fit.

Overall, despite his many drawbacks and unsavoury incidents throughout the season, Villa fans should be grateful to Houllier for what he has done for the club this past season. He has done everything he was asked by Randy Lerner; he has stabilised the club, finishing in ninth place, only three places behind last season’s finals standing, he has cut the wage bill, introduced some youngsters that will now be pushing for regular starting places and he has managed to identify the troublesome influences within the team to the club’s hierarchy.

Although Houllier’s time at Villa will probably not be remembered too fondly by anybody associated with it, it was inevitable that his health was always going to catch up with him at some point. In terms of what Villa fans were expecting from the season, in the wake of Martin O’Neill’s resignation, they must have thought the club was destined to finish in the bottom half of the table. Now, with some new players in the team and a summer to appoint a new manager and plan for next season, Villa really have a chance to re-emerge as a contender for a top-six position.

PSG 10/11-End Of Season Summary

What was largely a successful season finished in disappointment for PSG last week as a final day draw at Saint-Étienne (1-1), and a victory for Lyon at Monaco (2-0) that relegated Les Monégasques in the process; ensured that Les Parisiens will be playing Europa League football instead of Champions League next season.

Disappointing draws at Monaco (1-1), at home to Nancy (2-2) and a devastating late 0-1 defeat to Lille in the final of the Coupe de France sent PSG into their game with Bordeaux under duress and needing a victory to apply some serious pressure on a faltering Lyon side. However, they fell to a 1-0 defeat after which the players were criticised by club President Robin Leproux for a lack of desire, leaving them facing an uphill task to finish in third.

The following 2-2 home draw with Lille which saw Les Dogues claim the title, although a respectable result, and a great game of football, saw PSG barely clinging to faint hopes of beating Lyon to third place. However, these hopes were definitively extinguished by their inability to claim a victory over L’ASSE that would, in any case, have been academic due to Monaco’s capitulation at home to Lyon.

Although the final few weeks will leave a bitter taste in mouth for many at the club, it should not take away from the fact that this season has been a good one for the capital side. A small but talented squad have found a large amount of consistency this season and have now formed a solid unit that finally play as a team. Antoine Kombouaré has guided a squad with little depth to a fourth-placed finish and, had he been able to compensate for the loss of Stéphane Sessègnon, the club could arguably have finished in third place.

Because of their lack of depth, the Champions League probably would have been a step too far for PSG right now. Just look at Auxerre, a club with similar issues with depth, they started the season in the Champions League and struggled and could still have found themselves relegated on the last day of the season after a disastrous campaign. Although not being able to offer Champions League football next year hinders their ability to attract certain types of players, Lorient’s Kévin Gameiro for instance has said that a decision on his future is likely to depend on whether the club who wants him can offer top level European football, the club will be a more attractive proposition now after a steady season that has featured little of PSG’s regular drama.

Another reason that les Rouges-et-Bleu will be a more attractive proposition for many players will be that they are now financed by Qatari investors. Last week the club announced that they had agreed a deal to sell 70% of the club to Qatari Investment Authority whilst Colony Capital retains a 30% share, keeping the clubs’ hierarchy largely intact. With this sort of investment, the club can look forward to this summer’s transfer mercato with the knowledge that they can compete with Lyon and Marseille for the league’s best talents.

The move puts PSG in a strong financial position that had previously been questioned as, despite good merchandising figures, the club was in a poor state financially and had little capital to invest in transfers. Now, with financial backing to rival that of their most fierce rivals, the club have a chance to build on a successful campaign and push to become France’s strongest club.

This season has been Les Parisiens’ most successful campaign since 2003-04 when they finished second and claimed Champions League football and, with some form of European football guaranteed, the majority of the clubs bright young prospects staying and the core of a strong team likely to stay intact, next season could indeed be an opportunity for PSG to really assert themselves.

Now, on the back of a disappointing season for both Lyon and Marseille, the club have an opportunity to become France’s leading side and redress the balance of power that has recently been tipped in favour of the duo with Bordeaux and Lille in particular, also staking strong claims to become France’s new elite team. With the traditional powers weakening, PSG now have the chance to supplement the changes that they have already been making behind the scenes to make the club more family-oriented and redefine their identity as France’s flagship team.

Despite the departures of Claude Makélelé and Grégory Coupet, two seasoned veterans that brought a lot of experience to the side, there is still enough experience in old stagers such as Sylvain Armand and Ludovic Giuly to help guide the rapidly developing youngsters such as Clément Chantôme, Mamadou Sakho (now to replace Makélélé as captain) and Alphonse Aréola. Kombouaré will surely look to bring in another experienced player to take the pressure off the elder members of the squad but it is also the ideal time to raid Ligue 1 rivals of their best young talent.

Players such as Dimitri Payet, Marvin Martin, Mapou Yanga M’Biwa and Morgan Amalfitano will all represent good transfer value if the club decide to pursue them and would also give Kombouaré some much needed depth and competition within the side. With Nicolas Douchez already set to arrive from Rennes to replace Coupet and the transfer window days from opening, it promises to be an exciting summer for PSG fans.

Ligue 1 Transfer Market Blog-Week 1

No sooner had the French Ligue 1 season finished and clubs and players began announcing proposed moves. Triumphant Lille OSC manager Rudi Garcia revealed after Lille’s 3-2 victory over Rennes in the final game of the season that, despite the club’s success in tying down the majority of their star players to long-term contracts, one of those players was not Yohan Cabaye and that he would be leaving shortly to join Newcastle United. Gervinho soon followed by announcing that he will soon reveal the identity of his next club whilst Marseille revealed that they have agreed to allow last season’s star player, Argentine Lucho González, to leave after only two seasons with the club.

Paris Saint-Germain then made the announcement that they have agreed a deal to sell 70% of the club to Qatari investors with Colony Capital retaining a 30% share in the club, in a move which sees le PSG not only bridge the gap between themselves and France’s biggest clubs, but also put themselves in a strong position to become France’s leading side next season following disappointing seasons for Marseille, Lyon and Bordeaux.

Plenty of good players in Ligue 1 are looking to move this summer and a number had announced their intentions to depart their current clubs before the end of the season. Lorient duo Kévin Gameiro and Morgan Amalfitano have both expressed their desire to ply their trade elsewhere next season with Valencia and PSG heavily linked with Gameiro whilst Marseille and a number of English sides have been sniffing around Amalfitano.

Dimitri Payet of Saint-Étienne announced in January that he intended to leave les Verts and came within hours of signing for PSG but the move feel through and the young winger saw out the season at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard as manager Christophe Galtier promised to grant the player a transfer if he maintained his good form until the end of the season. The 23 year-old fulfilled his end of the bargain and now ASSE coach Galtier must too and Payet is expected to complete his move to the Parc des Princes when the transfer window opens.

Another player set to join les Parisiens is Nicolas Douchez the Rennes goalkeeper, who Rennes’ General Manager Pierre Dréossi revealed a few weeks ago would be leaving for the capital.

In addition to the players announcing their intended departures, there is an abundance of attractive young French talent plying their trade in Ligue 1 currently. Marvin Martin has had a sensational season finishing with 17 assists and three goals to his name, forcing himself into Laurent Blanc’s most recent French side. Mapou Yanga M’Biwa at Montpellier has had a second consecutive consistent season and will now surely look to join one of France’s big five as he seeks a bigger stage to showcase his talent.

Raphaël Varane has also attracted much interest and is believed to be close to sealing a move to Manchester United despite only having been part of recently-relegated Lens’ first team for a season. It is believed that he is keen on a loan move back to France to continue his development as part of his agreement to sign for the Red Devils.

Grégory Pujol of Valenciennes and Youssef El-Arabi of Caen have had fine seasons in front of goal and will be keen to consider offers from teams in the top half of the table whilst relegated Monaco’s side looks set to be stripped of it’s best young players as Park Chu-Young, Stéphane Ruffier, Daniel Niculae and Benjamin Moukandjo surely will not take a step down to Ligue 2 at this stage of their careers.

With the transfer window opening on June 9^th, plenty of teams will be looking to revamp and strengthen their squads. Lille’s annual sale of their best talent is expected to stop at Cabaye and Gervinho, whilst they have already made moves to secure Auxerre’s Benoît Pedretti as a replacement for Cabaye. Despite agreeing a new contract with their brightest star, Lille still face a fight to keep precocious Belgian talent Eden Hazard, despite his insistence that he wants to remain in Pas-de-Calais next season to sample the Champions League and most likely put himself in the shop window for Europe’s biggest sides.

Lyon and Marseille endured miserable seasons and L’OM have already announced new rebuilding plans by putting Lucho González up for sale. Despite enjoying a fine first season in the south, González has struggled for form this year and his unease off the pitch and fractious relationship with the Marseille fans appears to have made the decision for the club. A lot however, will depend on the future of Didier Deschamps who is apparently in talks with Roma about becoming their new boss, so until a decision is made by the former French international, little transfer activity will occur.

Lyon also have a big decision to take. In a season when the board, fans’ and players’ patience has been pushed to the limit, Claude Puel has become a scapegoat for their failure. It would be a big surprise to see him leading the side next season despite his success in salvaging Champions League qualification from a disappointing campaign. Once a decision has been taken on his future, L’OL will surely be dipping into the market to supplement and replace members of a talented but inconsistent side. This will be financed, in part, by Michel Bastos’ expected departure for Juventus while speculation still abounds that Hugo Lloris could be set to move on too.

Whilst Marseille and Lyon struggle to come to terms with the shift in power in Ligue 1, Paris Saint-Germain should look to capitalise and consolidate their position back in France’s top five with a strong transfer campaign. With a number of veteran players moving on (Claude Makélelé and Grégory Coupet), a strong but shallow squad of talented players and a solid management structure in place, PSG could really make a serious push for next season’s title with some careful investment now provided by the Qatari investors.

Les Rouges-et-Bleu are perennial underachievers and now, finally with a handle on youth development which has let them down so often in the past, they now have a manager in Antoine Kombouaré with whom the fans relate to who is also strong enough to deal with the pressure of managing the club (he has also just extended his contract until 2013). With a group of talented young players yet to hit their prime, PSG can now seize their opportunity to use their newfound financial muscle to buy some of Ligue 1’s best talent and make a serious run at next year’s title and begin constructing a squad strong enough to compete in Europe.

With Douchez replacing Coupet, another name that has been linked with the club is Grégory Pujol. Scorer of 17 goals this season for Valenciennes, he will surely fancy this as his last opportunity to play for a big club in France and would be a great signing with plenty of experience. Kévin Gameiro was reportedly in talks with Parisien officials before the end of the season regarding a move to his boyhood club although that was thought to be dependent on PSG’s ability to offer him Champions League football next season. Without this, Valencia could firm up their interest and take him to Spain adding to their growing French contingent.

Another Lorient player on the move is Morgan Amalfitano who is reportedly attracting strong interest from Marseille, possibly depending on González’s transfer, but has also had strong propositions from English clubs over the last few months. A creative midfielder who has 13 assists to his name this season, he would be a great addition to a lot of European sides but he is just one of many talented French Ligue 1-based players looking to move on.