Tidings from La Gaillette

By: Xavier | August 14th, 2009

It has been very difficult to unload Gregory Vignal to say the least. But Lens and Birmingham have both officially announced the transfer of the veteran defender. Vignal has been ill recently but he passed a physical today and the transfer was officially announced on the official Birmingham website.

Assistant coach Dominique Cuperly erupts onto the pages of France Football Magazine; “The situation is difficult for me and that’s a fact! I came to a club where things were not working as I wanted. I’m simply annoyed, that’s it. When I arrived, I would never have thought that there would be this many problems with the staff. I had discussions and I had suggested what I felt needed to be fixed but I don’t think I was given the proper information at the time. I was told that the situation would be very different, very soon, and now, we can’t even recruit! “In fact, no one at la Gaillete thought it would be this difficult to unload the players on the transfer list.” The names of the desired reinforcements were presented to Cuperly in June, but they have ultimately proved impossible to recruit. The failed transfer of Fabrice Abriel being the best example.

“I will do my job and try to keep my mouth shut and I will make my decision after seeing the president.” Contrary to the newspaper article published Wednesday in L’Equipe the team website has reported that Cuperly has not yet met with President Gervais Martel, and therefore did not submit any resignation at this time. His decision to stay or leave Lens will therefore actually depend on the shape of the club after the transfer window closes. Like him, President Martel, Daniel Leclercq and Coach Jean-Guy Wallemme are no doubt committed to having the best possible side by September 1st. We shall see…..

Coach Jean-Guy Wallemme still hopes to benefit from the possible arrival of two new players (a defender and a midfielder) despite the economic difficulties at Lens. ” Not only to help individual players but also for the collective. I prefer to have one or two more players in certain positions. Everyone could see that we lacked a play-making midfielder against Bordeaux. That type of player can make all the difference. However, we cannot guarantee there will be such a player available to us in the transfer market. ”

Injury Report: Allaedine Yahia (quadriceps) is still uncertain for the match against Auxerre tomorrow. This of course would be a huge blow for Lens who are extremely short on center backs. Considering the composition of the group, Coach Wallemme seems to not yet have decided which player to use in Yahia’s absence. Indeed, the Lens coach will be depending on the same eleven which featured against Bordeaux. The only exception might be in the form of Serbian international Dejan Milovanovic who may get the start in place of Issam Jemaa, who played for Tunisia in a World Cup Qualifying match earlier this week. Jemaa scored Lens’ only goal in the loss to Bordeaux.