France

Japanese Star Daisuke Matsui Completes Grenoble Move

The Japanese midfielder’s troubled time with Sainte is now over and he will ply his trade at the Stade des Alpes next season...

Jun 27, 2009 1:17:17 PM

Ligue 1 : Daisuke Matsui (Saint-Etienne) vs Carlao (Sochaux)

Photo Gallery

Zoom

Ligue 1 : Daisuke Matsui (Saint-Etienne) vs Carlao (Sochaux)

Teams

Players

Grenoble have moved to sign up Saint-Etienne offensive midfielder Daisuke Matsui, who started only 11 games for les Verts last season, managing only one goal, as he produced a series of mediocre performances.

Saint-Etienne’s season fell rather flat as they plummeted to the foot of Ligue 1 after a pre-season of promise in the transfer market. Matsui was one of a number of high profile acquisitions who failed to shine at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in the last campaign and, as a result, his stay with les Verts has ended.

Matsui has signed a three year contract with GF38, who established themselves comfortably as a Ligue 1 club last season, after winning promotion from the second flight only 12 months ago. Mecha Bazdarevic’s side were built on a foundation of defensive solidarity and they will hope that Matsui, who was the player with the most assists in the league during season 2005-06, can add some flair to an offence that was rather sterile last season.

Grenoble, whose president is Kazutoshi Watanabe, a Japanese national, have already moved to capture goalkeeper Jody Viviani from les Verts and failed in an attempt to lure full-back David Sauget from the Loire club to the south east of the country.

Meanwhile, L’Equipe reports that Saint-Etienne are attempting to procure the signature of Caen goalkeeper Vincent Plante.

Robin Bairner, Goal.com