In Cédric Yambéré's live broadcast on his Twitch channel, the former captain of the Girondins, Yoann Barbetspoke of his choice to opt for Saudi Arabia, and his transfer window where he was courted by several clubs.
“The phone rang, and on the one hand I was reassured, quite a few clubs were interested. Afterwards, you make choices, yes or no… I was in very advanced contact with a Ligue 1 club, and in the end it fell through at the last moment when everything was agreed. We say to ourselves too bad, let's move on to something else. I was in contact with Atlanta too, where there is Stian Gregersen with whom I played. The MLS, I say, is too good, and I had contact with this championship almost every year, but I didn't want to go there, I wanted to stay in Europe. I say to myself that this is a good opportunity, Atlanta, Stian, a great club, a huge stadium… We talked quite a bit, and then it's special because there, you have the right to three players with the big contracts, then you have the contracts below… To agree, contractually, it was super complicated. We made lots of calls, I wanted to find solutions, it was super complicated. It doesn't happen. Afterwards, you wait, there are calls here and there, but I hadn't actually planned to move so much that I was incapable of seeing where I wanted to go, what interested me… In the end, the club that the Ligue 1 club was falling through and it was a little late in the transfer window… We had refused a lot of clubs… Towards the end of the transfer window, I received a phone call, it was 11:30 p.m. An English number. I think so well, it must be a Championship club. I answer, and 'hello Yoann, this is the President of Al-Riyadh, in Saudi Arabia'. I didn't see it coming… he tells me that they are looking for a player, and that my name came on the table, that I am a leader, that they need my profile. I hang up, I wake up my wife, and I tell her that I received a call from Saudi Arabia… I had already had some contact, but very brief. We talk for several days, and I tell her that it's her now (who decides). We're thinking, and in the meantime I have a call for a club in Türkiye. It appealed to me, for the atmosphere, etc., it's a football country. In the end, the Al-Riyadh club called me back and gave me a deadline. We had three hours to decide. We had to think about everything, and she said to me 'let's go, it will be another life experience'. We go there, we stay in a hotel for a week, and I still didn't have a house. A week there, locked up, it's 45 degrees, pregnant, with the little one who wants to play everywhere… We were depressed. I told him to go back to France while I found a house. The first week, it was hard, when I saw her crying… I said to myself 'damn, what have I done'. Then we got the house, she came back around September 20. There, you settle in, you get your bearings.”
