The AS Saint-Étienne is facing a major challenge: managing key players wishing to leave the club, such as Zuriko Davitashvili and Pierre Ekwah. These delicate situations highlight the difficulty for ASSE to reconcile the club’s sporting ambitions with the individual aspirations of the players. The club categorically refused to give up its items at loss, but faced Davitashvili’s growing patience and uncertainty about the future of Ekwah, whose situation was complicated by disagreements over a potential redemption clause. These files illustrate a potential risk to the collective dynamics and financial value of the players, stressing the importance for the ASSE of maintaining firm authority and not compromising the balance of the locker room.

Alongside these internal challenges, ASSE has actively engaged in targeted recruitment to strengthen its defensive positions. The upcoming arrival of Ebenézer Annan, a young left side of Belgrade’s Red Star, and João Ferreira, a Portuguese right side, demonstrates the club’s willingness to fill the voids left by previous departures and tactical choices. These two recruits, from major championships, meet a crucial need for stability and depth in the Stéphanois defence, after a 2023-2024 season marked by defensive instability. The arrival of Annan and Ferreira is part of a broader strategy for the renewal of the defence, with the desire to secure key positions in view of the rise to League 1.

These recruitment movements are in addition to a series of similar cases encountered by other clubs, such as Didier Ndong in Sunderland, Mohamed Bamba in Lorient, or Ademola Lookman in Atalanta. These examples highlight the challenges of managing players at the end of the contract or dissatisfied, and the potential consequences on team dynamics and the financial value of players. The ASSE, aware of these risks, relies on a new authority to negotiate and ensure that it does not suffer the market, while pursuing its ambitious objective of returning to League 1. The club’s ability to manage these complex situations will be crucial to its short- and medium-term sporting success.