Douchez, a departure and many questions

Nicolas Douchez has made his decision. Just as Sylvain Marveaux, the Stade Rennes goalkeeper since three seasons will leave Brittany for free in June, and probably sign a three years contract with the Paris Saint-Germain, with an additional year in option.

«Correct and honnest discussions»

Over the last weeks, the talks surrounding the future of Douchez have intensified, with the meetings multiplying between the player, his advisors, Stade Rennes and the PSG. Forced to keep a delay in order to prepare for a possible unfavourable discussion by their keeper, Stade Rennes had fixed a deadline on last Sunday for him to give a firm answer. At stake in Rennes, a new four years contract with a good salary increase, an offer superior, according to L’Équipe, to Rennes’ proposal.
Contacted by RMC on Monday afternoon, Pierre Dréossi explained that Douchez had called him the previous night “to announce [him] he wouldn’t sign a new contract with the Stade Rennais”, ending long weeks of speculation. “We weren’t far to agree, Dréossi regretted. Paris is his favourite club, as he says. He thought about it a lot, he took that decision, difficultly it seems, and we should respect it ». Between Stade Rennes and Douchez, the separation was amicable. “I don’t resent him at all, Dréossi affirmed. The discussions have always been correct and honest. He was free, free to do anything he wanted. He did a good season, he is a true professional ».

The ending of this case has got a bitter taste for the Stade Rennais however. By putting Douchez in competition last summer, they seemed to have done a clever manoeuver. The former Toulouse man was coming out of a difficult season and needed to bounce back, while Carrasso, full of promise in Montpellier, was presented as a possible number one who would accept to remain in the shadow in the first place before being ready to take over in the mid-term.
Ten months later, the situation doesn’t look that clear anymore. Impressively consistent all over the season, Douchez has swept aside the competition of Carrasso, whose four games this season have failed to convince anyone. As a result, early February, the Rennes staff decided to change their initial plan and tried to keep Douchez at the club.

Carrasso now at the centre of all interrogations

Today, the whole strategy seems to have been perfectly vain. Stade Rennes comes out of the affair by losing a key-member of their squad, maybe their best player this season. As for Carrasso, the efforts made by Rennes to try and extend his rival’s contract sound like a perfect slap in the face, nearly an invitation to leave. The former France U21 international has got three years left on his contract however, and except for the club deciding not to keep him on board, he should remain in Rennes next year. His status – number 1 or number 2 – should be at the centre of discussions between Pierre Dréossi and Frédéric Antonetti until this summer.
At the moment, no decision has been taken on this topic. The possibility to recruit a new first choice goalkeeper is therefore opened, even if it isn’t “mandatory”, according to Dréossi’s words. A way, maybe, not to show openly the necessity for Rennes to recruit a new player, and push the selling club to ask for a higher price. “We will speak about it, and we will try to take the best decision in view of next year”, the manager general only affirms at the moment, who also admitted to Ouest-France that the club would “accelerate [its] reflexion” on the topic.

In case Stade Rennes was deciding to recruit a new number one, the most natural solution seems to be David Ospina, from OGC Nice. The young Colombian (he will turn 23 in August) is now well settled in the French league, he who arrived on the Côte d’Azur already three years ago. He knows Antonetti well – who coached him for one season in 2008-2009 – as well as Victor Hugo Montaño, the only other Colombian to play in Ligue 1.
Another name mentioned by the media over the last weeks is Monaco’s Stéphane Ruffier (25 in September). As Ospina, the man from Bayonne had already been named as one of the possible targets for Paris Saint-Germain before the club from the French capital opted for Douchez. International (one cap) and captain of the AS Monaco, not sure he would want to move to Brittany when some predict him a future in the top clubs.

«We lose an important presence in the dressing room»

Whoever Douchez’ replacement will be – if there is one – will have to strive to fill the massive hole left by his predecessor. In three seasons, the former Toulouse man has imposed himself as the best goalkeeper the “Rouge et Noir” have had since the departure of Petr Čech in 2004. On a personal aspect, Douchez made his way up in the national hierarchy while in Rennes, even approaching the French national squad, even though the Coupe de France final lost in 2009 will remain regret. In Paris, true specialists of the competition, he may well have his chance to make up for it.
In the Rennes dressing room, it is also a leader who prepares to leave. Just before the second-half of the game against Bordeaux, last Saturday, as the eleven Rennes players had gathered at the centre of the pitch, it was Douchez who riled up and encouraged his team-mates. Next year, the goalkeeper won’t be there anymore, just the same way he sidestepped his invitation to the radio show “Kop West” this Monday, to which he was expected to take part, but decided not be present after the events of the day. “He has much weight in the squad, we lose an important player in the dressing room”, Romain Danzé summarised on Hit West. A loss that will need to be compensated for, in one way or another.

- Photo : srfc.frenchwill.fr