The management of the MHSC and its president would have decided to remove the armband in the middle after his remarks at Le Puy.
Friday morning, Laurent Nicollin pushed open the door of the Grammont training center. As he became accustomed to during this period, the Montpellier president addressed his group. But before he took the road to Lyon at around 9:30 a.m., this speech was more scrutinized than usual.
From this intervention in the locker room and their privacy that certain executives protect according to a very variable geometry, the major information ended up leaking: two weeks after his remarks at Puy-en-Velay and the sinking in the Coupe de France (4-0 ), Téji Savanier should have lost his captain's armband.
Fine and suspension
On December 21, the midfielder responded to Ponot supporters who were harassing him in the last place in Montpellier in L1. “When you get €210,000, it’s okay”he retorted, before apologizing in a club press release which had not convinced the Ultras of Butte Paillade 1991, authors in response of an acidic text.
After the holidays, the sanction finally fell. It should be accompanied by a financial component, according to L'Équipe, and could go with a replacement status, this Saturday in Lyon.
This epilogue further aggravates an unprecedented period for the playmaker. Far from the untouchable status, assumed upon his return to his training club in 2019, “TJ” is now learning to live with a tarnished image. And crystallizes a discontent from increasingly angry supporters who point to his new Ferrari or his dull silhouette, and above all the increasingly sluggish performances.
Over the course of a season that he goes through with rare interruptions, the most used player in the squad displays statistics (1 goal and 3 assists) far from his standards.
Which successor?
What will its rebound be? A year and a half from the end of his contract, and at 33 years old, could Savanier see this as the beginning of the end of a story? These questions will accompany the wait for an answer on the field from a player whose talent remains undeniable, even more so within a squad with an abysmal lack of creativity. And now a captain, at least punctual. The natural candidates – and not divisive – do not jostle each other…
By sanctioning the man who is still the most expensive recruit in the history of the MHSC (€9 million), Laurent Nicollin has in any case slammed his fist on the table. Between four eyes and far from any media attention. On Friday, he and his entourage remained closed to requests. No real surprise.
“I don’t need to write an article in L’Équipe or Midi Libre to say how we resolved the Sakho case”explained Laurent Nicollin in these columns in March 2024, a few months after the altercation between Mamadou Sakho and Michel Der Zakarian.
This affair, which occurred in October 2023, marked a negative turn in the Montpellier season. A little over a year later, the Savanier case has not yet delivered its consequences.
