Jorge Sampaoli makes Valentin Rongier his priority to strengthen the Stade Rennais midfield. But the former OM captain is not for sale and Roberto De Zerbi has called him back again.
Substitute at the start of the season, Valentin Rongier is now indisputable at Olympique de Marseille, where he forms a complementary and effective duo in midfield with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg while Adrien Rabiot flourishes higher up the pitch. Roberto De Zerbi took a little time, but the Italian coach has now found the right formula to make a special place for the former FC Nantes captain in his system.
The return to favor of Valentin Rongier at OM is not good for Stade Rennais because while the 30-year-old played little in Marseille, the Breton club had the idea of convincing him to join their former coach Jorge Sampaoli in Rennes during the winter transfer window. A transfer which is not possible for a second for Roberto De Zerbi, who repeated this Friday that the joke was over and that the Valentin Rongier track in Rennes could definitively be buried.
De Zerbi’s new development on Rongier
“The fact that the transfer window is open does not affect me. We must strengthen the team, not weaken it. Important players like Rongier or others must not leave. Sometimes, to strengthen yourself you also have to sell. This may allow us to purchase more functional players for our system. But now is not the time” commented Roberto De Zerbi, who insisted on the future of Valentin Rongier since he had qualified as a player “non-transferable” his midfielder last week, before the reception at Le Havre. A match during which Rongier opened the scoring, he who will start again on Saturday evening for the Olympique de Marseille match on the pitch… at Stade Rennais.
