Did the Girondins succeed in their “Football Manager” game?

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History does not say if Gérard Lopez is a big fan of the video game
Football Manager. But one thing is certain, the new owner of the Girondins, helped by his technical director Admar Lopes, could be a very good player in view of the mercatos he brings to his clubs. As in Losc between 2017 and 2020, the new boss of the Girondins gave the Navy and White a first summer of madness with no less than twenty movements in the workforce. All this in just five short weeks since his arrival. We can therefore imagine what it could have been with Gérard Lopez, owner of the club from June 1.

“After PSG, we were one of the most active clubs. I think we had a good transfer window. I had said that there would be between seven / eight arrivals, there are finally eight. There were departures, sales, terminated contracts, loans and in the end, we managed to reduce the payroll considerably ”, launches the Bordeaux president. An opinion shared by supporters based on our survey 20 minutes realized on Twitter (2,400 voters) this Wednesday on how they judge this transfer window? Excellent (6%), good (69%), average (22%) and poor (3%). And it is true that in the current context with financially drained clubs and particularly monitored in France by the DNCG (national management control department), it was difficult to do better for the new management despite some failures.

An express degreasing and ideas for recruiting

The great success of this first transfer window Gérard Lopez version is undoubtedly to have succeeded in largely degreasing. For several seasons, the Girondins piled up the players without being able to resell them. Between the end of contract (De Préville, Sabaly, Poundjé or Jovanovic), departures (Carrique, Lauray and Bessilé), transfers (Basic), loans (Bellanova and Sow) and terminations (Pardo and Benito), the mammoth has melted well even if it is still thick:

“We knew that we were on a club rescue mission at the start, and that we had to clean up a few variables from the past. We sold, more with the signing of Laborde (in Rennes), for around 20 million euros. We spend a little less than half, we are well in the nails. “- Gérard Lopez

Management affirms in passing that they had the backbone to reject offers for Benoit Costil or Otavio in order to preserve his spine.

Another small feat of the Gérard Lopez / Admar Lopez duo is to have recruited no less than eight players. In the Girondins, this had not happened for three years. And all this without necessarily much more money than their predecessors since Bordeaux did not have the right to buy without selling first. Four defenders (Mensah, Mangas, Gregersen and Pembélé), two midfielders (Fransergio and Onana) and two attackers (Elis and Dilsorun) landed on the banks of the Garonne. Apart from the Brazilian midfielder, these are young players with high potential who correspond to the trading project on which the new owner is relying. “There are a lot more options, alternatives, explains Admar Lopes, even at the level of the players able to change the game a little in a role of replacement. There is a lot more competition, envy in my opinion, players with character. I think it’s a richer and more complementary workforce than last year ”. It remains to prove it on the ground.

In any case, the first objective which was to “break this group” as Jean-Louis Gasset, the predecessor of Vladimir Petkovic tirelessly repeated, has been achieved. Gasset dreamed of it, Lopez did it …

The icing on the cake is missing

Unfortunately, the black cat from Château du Haillan has not yet completely left the scene. The end of the transfer window, punctuated by a series of hiccups, reminded us of this. Gérard Lopez admits it this Wednesday: “(A transfer window) Perfect it would have been to make a success of one or two more transfers. “He thinks above all of the failure of the attacker’s case. In substance as well as in form. With the highlight of a player (Mostafa Mohamed) who refuses many offers (Rayo Vallecano and PSV Eindhoven), travels on the last day to sign, successfully passes his medical examination to finally not be able to engage with the Girondins due to an administrative problem between his two former clubs (Zamalek and Galatasaray. All this after not having already been able to conclude the arrivals of Mohamed Bayo (too expensive) and Beto (refusal of the player to come) to this same post. Today, this team still lacks a “center-forward who can keep the ball without creating a lot of play and with a few extra inches”, regrets the Bordeaux president. the idea of ​​taking a joker if an opportunity presents itself.Meanwhile, for supporters, it is 86% the biggest failure of this transfer window.

Another setback for the new management, the non-arrival of Vitinho. For weeks, the young Brazilian prodigy was announced to the Girondins, even by his own brother and agent, to finally take the direction of Kiev at the very end of the transfer window. If Gérard Lopez puts forward a problem of extra-community places in the workforce, in reality the Bordeaux leaders have never been able to complete this file for lack of sufficient sales. And Vitinho ended up going right under their noses. He could have been the headliner of the new project. Today there is none. And to bring people to the stadium (re), that won’t help …

The Brazilian Vitinho will land at the Girondins. – DiaEsportivo / Action Plus / Shutter / SIPA

Two other hiccups have punctuated this end of the transfer window. These are the non-sales of Ui-jo Hwang (at Sporting Portugal or Dynamo Moscow) and Josh Maja (at Nottimgham Forest). Not sure that the club will one day end up with an offer of 14 million euros in the hands for the Korean striker. This money would have allowed the arrival of players with the biggest CV and above all, it will be necessary to see if this has consequences on the finances of the club, monitored very closely by the DNCG. But hey, the Bordeaux supporters will not be choosy when their club was still on the verge of agony five weeks ago. As one of them said: “Considering where we come from… It is excellent (this transfer window)! “





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