Rafaël Schmitz Potentially Transferring To Valenciennes FC

By: Julien | June 23rd, 2008

Valenciennes FC has announced that they will officially unveil one of their new signings today at 17:45 H (French time). The player is expected to be Rafaël Schmitz, one of Lille’s reliable defenders. Schmitz had this to say about his future with Lille in an interview with Mercato365.fr:
“I must return to practicing with LOSC on Wednesday. It will be a chance [...] and to see if they really count on me. Currently, nothing is definite… I spoke to Antoine Kombouaré who showed me his project. Valenciennes is a good club. It has been a big challenge to lift up (the club). The club wants to progress. Things are getting close, but not close enough to read about it (the transfer) in the newspapers.”
So maybe it won’t be him in the player presentation at Stade Nungesser I today. Speaking of their current stadium, Valenciennes is another Ligue 1 club that is building a new stadium. Their new stade will be called Stade Nungesser II (not very creative).

Rudi Garcia said to La Voix des Sports that he is happy to be managing such a young team:
“It suits me to play with these young players, I am pleased. The advantage is with them, they are improvable and able to listen. They can work well. I can give them instructions and they will generally be eager to apply them.” Good point from Garcia. Young footballers are usually more eager to learn than older players. You can certainly train them better, but they can also act immature in tough situations such as the Champions League experience that Lille had with Manchester United awhile ago. The young LOSC players lost their composure after the Giggs free kick.

Oscar Ewolo may still be an option for Lille. Stade Rennais’ manager Pierre Dreossi says that his club never contacted the player. Also Garcia does not guarantee that Grégory Tafforeau will keep his captain armband: “I am going to give myself 56 weeks to choose my captain and I will also make a consulting group, a small number of players that I will confide with certain responsabilities.” That group will probably help Garcia to develop the LOSC youth.