According to Ouest-France, Stéphane Dalmat's is less and less likely to play for Rennes next season. Indeed, negotiations regarding the Sochaux midfielder are believed to have been closed, because of the transfer fee requested by Sochaux, and the player’s legal problems. Real news or mind-games?
Announced to arrive in Rennes since several weeks, Stéphane Dalmat (31 yo) will probably not wear the Rennes jersey next season, according to Ouest France’s website. Searching for an experienced midfielder to strengthen this sector of the team, Rennes had made of Dalmat its priority until now.
Since a couple of weeks, Rennes’ management had found a found a full agreement with the player, on both salary and contract duration questions. However, the negotiations with Sochaux did not run so swiftly, blocking on the former Marseille player’s transfer indemnity.
Over the last few days, media were stating that the Sochaux board requested a €1.6 Million fee to release their midfielder. An amount Rennes isn’t seemingly ready to spend to enroll Dalmat.
Contracted to Sochaux until June 2012, Dalmat has clearly expressed his desire to move to Brittany, hoping an effort from his employer to let him go: "Rennes wants to hire me (…) I work, but in my head I’m already gone. I’m even 200% a Rennes player (…) For a 31 years old player, you can’t expect a huge transfer fee” explained the player in L’Équipe, on July 2nd.
Besides, Ouest-France relates that the Stade Rennais might have been repelled by Dalmat’s legal problems. The player has just been condemned to a suspended 2 month jail sentence, for aggravated violence and rebellion against both his wife and the police.
These informations could come to confirm Alexandre Lacombe’s words: Sochaux’s president was recently expressing his doubts regarding Rennes’ real "willingness" to recruit Dalmat. Is Rennes trying to reduce the cost of Dalmat’s transfer, or could the recruitment squad be working on the signing of another player able to bring pace and fluency on the team’s midfield?
It is hard to guess the club’s position on this issue, but as the negotiations drag on, Dréossi and Antonetti could loose their patience on this stand-by situation. It would not be a surprise, therefore, if Rennes had already taken information on other targets, to avoid losing too much time on the transfer market… or to bring some pressure on Sochaux’s management.
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