Bordeaux blew promotion last season as they allowed their form to falter in the final weeks of the campaign, while their last match against Rodez was embarrassingly abandoned after a visiting player was assaulted following the opening goal of the game.
Promotion has to be the target for David Guion’s side this time around, and he has been backed healthily by the board, who have spent more than €11 million in the transfer market – a huge sum for a Ligue 2 side but one befitting of Bordeaux’s historical status, which puts them, along with Saint-Etienne, as the two biggest teams in the league. They should be backed accordingly, but the fans could equally desert the team should they struggle, although the support they got last season was good.
The big issue that Bordeaux had in 22/23 was scoring goals. This has been addressed with the arrival of new forward Jeremy Livolant and Zan Vipotnik, while Aliou Badji has been retained. Josh Maja has gone, but though he scored goals, he struggled to impress. He along with goalkeeper Gaetan Poussin and Fransergio are the only first-team regulars to have departed.
The squad, meanwhile, has been bolstered by several new arrivals, including box-to-box midfielder Pedro Piaz from Sporting Gijon and creative player Gaetan Weissbeck, who has been a leading player in Ligue 2 for some years now. Younger players Jean Marcelin and Yohan Cassubie have arrived to bring some more youth to the defensive side of things, but there should be little serious change in that area of the field, with Bordeaux having performed well there last term.
Bordeaux seem to have a nice balance about their squad this season, with the offensive reinforcements likely going some way to addressing their scoring problems last term.
Target
Bordeaux’s target is promotion – ideally in top spot. They have certainly been backed well enough in the transfer market to achieve this.
