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Just a tidbit to add to our mercato dealings this week, and if you didn’t already now, our young U19 starlet Yannis Tafer is headed south in search of more playing time.
Tafer is officialy on loan to Toulouse, after Le Tefece’s president Olivier Sadran has had to undertake a mad scramble to find a striker after the sale of Andre Pierre Gignac to Marseille and the injury of the promising young striker Xavier Pentecote, after he landed akwardly and ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament in a 2-1 win over Bordeaux in week two, an injury that will see him out, at least six months.
Pentecote scored a scorching twelve goals in fourteen appearences while on loan last year with Ligue 2 side Bastia. His injury has deprived TFC of their one and only true striker left on the roster and they’ve been making-do with winger Daniel Braaten in the meantime. Braaten has been paying massive dividens in his new role, and has scored three goals thus far and has played a huge role in Toulouse’s current first place position, having taken a full nine points out of nine. Regardless, this is not seen as a long term solution and Le Tef are in need of, at least a back-up, even if head coach Alain Casanova is thinking about leaving the Norwegian international in the striking role.
Enter Tafer. Sadran has scrambled to find a last minute replacement, and where better than the voluminous foward stable at OL, where two of the brightest, young center foward prospects in the league, will find themselves with little to no playing this time this season. Easy pickings for a loan deal. And voila, with a call to pour honey in the ear of the young Tafer, Casanova has what he want’s, and even more. OL has allowed the “new Benzema” to leave on a year long loan, but have also included a purchase option of 4M€.
On a personal note, I find the low option-to-buy figure disturbing, in that it may signal a willingness to let these talented youngsters go in the future, being that the future economic climate may make losing money on our establised stars e.g., Gomis, Bastos etc the norm, and thus, the only real money we will make on future sales, will be from our youth products.
Tafer had this to say:
“I had Alain Casanova, the [Toulouse] coach, on the phone. I felt through his speech he was willing to trust me and that I will enjoy more playing time than in Lyon. I want to thank [OL president] Jean-Michel Aulas and Bernard Lacombe, the advisor, for facilitating the loan.”
There’s a mix of veterans and youngsters here. The veterans are there to bring focus. The youngsters bring the enthusiasm. This mix makes the difference. It’s good to be here. I hope to make my mark quickly. Toulouse is a solid club, headed foward. The players have a solid defensive base; they are the top of the table. I hope it continues that way. It’s a good level to try to attain.”
Tafer has made ten appearences for OL and scored just one goal in that time, ironically the loan goal came against Toulouse. Now Tafer will be trying to score goals for the Garonne side, instead of against them.
