Until August 31, the transfer window will punctuate the life of clubs in France. Beyond the wild rumours, fabulous offers and fan fantasies, there is a reality that leaders of Ligue 2 teams have agreed to tell us about throughout the summer. This Friday, Jean-Philippe Nallet, sports director of Annecy, tells how he goes about recruiting despite limited financial means.
A cell dedicated to the summer transfer window
“After six weeks of preparation, the players are really looking forward to the season starting (Annecy will play its first match on Saturday, against Niort, editor’s note) ! But me, as sporting director, I would have liked to have had a little more time to finalize the recruitment. As we got the climb on the last day, it was very complicated for us to anticipate, even if I went to see Ligue 2 matches to supervise a few players and become aware of the level gap with the National . Once the promotion was completed, we created a small specific summer transfer window, including Gérald Passi in particular. The idea was to bring together people with strong recruitment skills and a very good network. In total, there are five of us working in this cell. We staffed ourselves over a given period, with a specific objective: to be very active in finding the best profiles. We communicate a lot, we share all the information we have and we try to achieve the signatures of the targeted players. We choose together, but the final decision is made by Laurent Guyot (the coach, Editor’s note) and me, with the budgetary validation of the president. »
François Lajugie, rookie arrived from Bastia-Borgo.
“We are a new club, which arrives with its freshness in the professional environment. We are not formatted and I think it may interest a lot of players. » Jean-Philippe Nallet, sporting director of Annecy
Focus on other strengths
“Honestly, if we had an envelope of 1.5 million, two million euros to devote to transfers, recruitment would be much simpler. But since this is not the case (with around eight million euros, Annecy has one of the smallest budgets in the championship, editor’s note), we have to adapt. What sets us apart from our competitors is the momentum we’ve been surfing on for eighteen months. By insisting on this, we can then praise the state of mind, the climate around the team, highlight our coach, who has experience and a certain recognition in the middle. There is also the quality of life that is offered to us in Annecy, and that is not negligible! We are a new club, which arrives with its freshness in the professional environment. We are not formatted and I think it may interest a lot of players. For example, we managed to bring in Vincent Pajot (which has 220 matches in Ligue 1 and around twenty in the European Cup, editor’s note). His personal and family aspirations made him lean towards us, and he needed a somewhat new sporting challenge. We just presented the project to him, he knew the city and found Laurent Guyot, with whom he had already worked. All the conditions were met for him to make his decision. We didn’t need to convince him, he convinced himself. »
??????? ???? is Reds … and he took his first steps at the Parc des Sports! The day is beautiful, we are not lying to you #GoReds pic.twitter.com/A2P9sdbTBP
— FC Annecy (@FCAnnecy) July 6, 2022
Focus on the markets we know
“If we were still in National, I think we would have already completed our recruitment. But the market is completely different in Ligue 2. Good free players are rarer and inevitably very coveted, it is difficult to compete with the competition. We would like to go faster, but the market gives us no choice. In this context, it is very important to have a global vision of the territory that we know best. Our strategy is to search within a perimeter that we control, to limit the margin of error. We absolutely have to be efficient, it’s a necessity. That’s why we focused on the French market, and more particularly on the National championship. With my recruitment manager, we watched a lot of matches and supervised a lot of players last season. Moreover, recruiting French or French-speaking elements also facilitates communication and integration within the workforce, this is not a detail. Of course, we project the qualities of these potential recruits on the Ligue 2 level, in order to ensure that they can bring added value. In the future, we will not hesitate to seek talented players abroad. »
Interview by Raphaël Brosse
Episode 1 : How to prepare your transfer window, with John Williams (Amiens)
Episode 2: How to manage a climb, with Jean-Philippe Nallet (Annecy)
Episode 3: What to do with players at the end of their contract, with Grégory Ursule (Rodez)
Episode 4: How to properly digest a descent, with Pierre Dréossi (Metz)
Episode 5: How are the discussions with the agents, with John Williams (Amiens)
Episode 6: What place remains for privacy, with Grégory Ursule (Rodez)
Source: www.sofoot.com
