Vive la France - AS Saint-Étienne

[leckuno]

I've been spending some time away from FM recently and have decided to get back into it again. With trying to find a new save and to make it a bit interesting from the start then I've loaded up on the normal database with no updates and holidayed until the 24th May 2025 meaning the first two seasons have taken place and we will now pick a team.

From the title you can see that I've decided to take on the challenge of getting Saint-Étienne back to the top of French football.

One of the main reasons of starting a save in France is that at the time of writing a French team has never won the Champions League as it has been dominated by teams from Spain, England and Germany. Also Saint-Étienne have failed to be promoted from Ligue 2 finishing 4th and 5th in the last two seasons. The club has a rich history with it being one of the most successful teams in French football but the last title came in 1981.

The board have high expectations for the season ahead with us being expected to be promoted this time at the clubs 3rd time of asking. They seem to be expecting us to be signing older players on short time deals as well but if anything I want a younger squad that can run our opponents off the pitch

The fans expect promotion as well and want us to continue the rich history the club has of bringing players through the academy as well.​

So the finances at the club are currently not in a good position after some mismanagement last season and we find ourselves having to repair the damage straight away.

Squad

Overall we have a decent squad albeit the best player in the squad is Gianluca Prestianni who is on loan from Benfica and his deal ends at the end of the season. We do have a good squad though which stands us in good stead for the season ahead as we have all the foundations for gaining promotion. The stand out youth player in the squad though is Boris Kamdem who gives us a real hope for the future along with faith that we can bring through decent players in the academy as well which is going to be key to future success of the club as well.

 

[leckuno]

Squad Rebuild

With any new manager coming in they all want to put their own stamp on the team and that's exactly what I've done with getting rid of a few players on high wages on the wrong side of 30 as we looked to free up wages for players coming in.

With that we have seen 9 players leave the club for a fee over the course of a month as we bring in some good money to add to the transfer budget and free up wages as well.

Transfers In

Its now time to look at the players we've managed to bring into the club. We've managed to bring in 10 players so far and have fully utilized the free transfer market as well with trying to do a lot of business as early as possible to beat other teams to the signings.

Malcom

A favourite over the years for a lot of football manager players and he brings with him a wealth of experience and obviously has experience of French football as well from his time at Bordeaux.

Marko Grujić

It sadly never worked out for Grujic at Liverpool but he did have plenty of playing time in Germany, Portugal and Saudi and he will be a starter here as well as we look to bring in experienced players to help bring younger players on.

Mihajlo Ilić

Looking to strengthen our defence we looked to youth here as Ilić was listed by Bologna and we snap him up for £500,000. He is a full international with Serbia as he has 7 caps already which will hopefully be added to. He was on loan in Ligue 2 last season with SC Bastia so already knows some of the language and the league.

Jonathan Panzo

A sought after left footed central defender who again knows French football through his time at Monaco joins as a free transfer and he can also play as left back as well if needed.

Lucien Agoumé

Again signed on a free transfer but he comes in with with experience in French football having spent time on loan at Brest and Troyes. He is ridiculously fit as well which will be good come the tail end of the season.

Sebastiano Esposito

A former team mate of Agoumé at Inter as again signed on a free transfer. He is an exciting youth prospect we can hopefully bring the best out of.

Luca Moro

Another Italian striker in on a free transfer. He's scored 21 goals over the last 2 seasons in Serie B so hopefully he can bring that form with him this season and hit double figures again.

Franco Carboni

A very skilled Left back who has a big future ahead of himself. This is his first taste of senior football outside of Italy so it will be good to see how he gets on as he joins on loan from Inter.

Mohamed-Ali Cho

A very gifted young French striker who actually spent time in the Everton youth teams joins the club for £2,200,000 from Nice. He is a very versatile attacker as he can play down both wings as well

Adam Karabec

Our final signing who again came on a free at the expiration of his contract as he has a lot of talent if given the right opportunity at the club and hopefully bag us a good profit as well.

Preseason

A very strong preseason as we go unbeaten against some very good teams with the draws against Porto and Benfica being the highlight in my eyes.

Season Preview

With all of our new players in at the club and a great preseason we are seen as the strong favourites for promotion.

Expectations

Just a reminder of what the board expects from us this season with automatic promotion. We still have a fair amount of money to spend as well if its needed

August

We face two of the other teams in the promotion race straight away with games against Lorient and Angers​

 

[leckuno]

August

AS Saint-Étienne v Quevilly-Rouen

A great start for our new signings as Karabec and Cho make instant impacts here in the first game of the season as we run out well deserved winners.

SM Caen v AS Saint-Étienne

Caen are a good team and we had to be at our best here and Cissoko got the breakthrough cutting in off the wing past two defenders before scoring. Malcom also opened his account for the club with a nice header at the back post as well.

AS Saint-Étienne v FC Lorient

Now its Grujic's turn as he puts in a MOTM performance here with two stunning freekicks to see off newly relegated Lorient.

Angers v AS Saint-Étienne

Angers have flipflopped between the leagues the last few seasons and are a dangerous team bit Cissoko is looking like he will be a key player for us this season down the left.

Grenoble v AS Saint-Étienne

These games are ones that we need to be winning to ensure we get promoted so I'm disappointed that we weren't able to take our chances here.

AS Saint-Étienne v Nimes

A game we should have win since Nimes have only just been promoted to Ligue 2 but we really struggled to get through their defence in the 2nd half here.

Transfers Out

There was a huge outgoing for us as Larsonneur who was our starting keeper but it was a large amount of money that could be reinvested into the club and squad.

Transfers In

Alex Paulsen

We left it right up until deadline day to bring in a new keeper as we signed Paulsen from Wellington Phoenix for £2million and he will be our starting keeper going forward

Junior Kroupi

A statement signing by the club as Kroupi becomes the clubs record signing as he costs £11.5million which can increase to £13.75million with addons but he is somebody elso to build the team around going forward.

League

We're top of the table by a point after 6 games as there is still a lot of football to play going forward as its very close behind us.

September

With international games this month then there are only 3 games which we can hopefully get a few wins from.​