SAKA, ANTONY AND 10 PREMIER LEAGUE STARS HEADING TO THEIR FIRST WORLD CUP
French football has been on its knees for the past year due to the financial strain brought on by the pandemic.
Unfortunately, a number of historic clubs have struggled throughout the past year, and one club that are on the brink of collapse is Bordeaux.
The club released a statement earlier this week, and it makes for terrible reading:
“The economic context linked to the COVID-19 pandemic and the withdrawal of Mediapro has caused an unprecedented drop in revenues for French football clubs.
“These events come on top of the financial consequences that already hit clubs hard last season due to the early closure of the season and the resulting loss of income.
“While FC Girondins de Bordeaux is heavily impacted, King Street, its owner, after investing €46m in the club since its takeover, has let it be known that they no longer wish to support the club and finance its current and future needs.
“These circumstances led the president to protect the club by placing it under the protection of the Bordeaux Commercial Court. An ad hoc representative has been appointed, who will be responsible for assisting Girondins de Bordeaux in their search for a lasting solution.”
As you can see Bordeaux are in a perilous position, but how does this affect Fulham?
Well, the Whites currently have a player on loan from the French outfit on their books in the shape of Josh Maja, and while the striker has an option to buy included in his contract, one would have to imagine that the Whites are in a strong negotiating position here.
Fulham could knock a few pounds off of Maja’s asking price as Bordeaux scramble for cash, and with the striker showing glimpses of brilliance since arriving in January, that could be fantastic news for the Whites.
However, there is a downside to this.
Bordeaux also currently have one of Fulham’s wantaway players on loan, a certain Jean Micahel Seri.
We all know that Seri is a real burden on Fulham’s finances, he’s one of the highest-earning players in the club’s history and his performances on the pitch don’t warrant him being brought back into the fold.
Sadly, it seems as though any idea of Seri’s loan move being made permanent has gone out of the window with this announcement. Bordeaux simply don’t have the money, and even if they do have a budget to work with this summer, Seri is a high-earner.
Fulham have benefitted from other clubs’ misfortunes in the past, taking Antonee Robinson off of Wigan’s hands last summer for example, and while they could take advantage of Bordeaux’s situation with a cut-price deal for Maja, the fact that they won’t have an easy sale with Seri will certainly sting.
