Pascal Feindouno: Mercenary on a Mission

By: chris | September 25th, 2008

Pascal, current winger/forward for St. Etienne and one of their better players, is essentially holding his own club ransom. With the Asian transfer window still open – and absolutely no indication whatsoever of its date on the English-speaking web that I can find – Al Sadd announced they’d agreed a deal sending Pascal to Qatar in return for wheelbarrows (7m worth) of oil money. Only problem is no one told St. Etienne.

While Pascal was in Qatar to ink his deal, ASSE released this little ditty on their own website:

“Contrary to the news released on Internet site of the Qatari club, Al-Saad, no agreement no agreement has been found between Saint-Étienne and Al-Saad.

“Pascal Feindouno left out of his own initiative to travel to Qatar yesterday morning without having obtained prior agreement from Saint-Étienne.”

Kind of throws a wrench into matters. So much so that it’s being thought Pascal may boycott St. Etienne’s huge game against Bordeaux this weekend in protest. Though his agent is saying Pascal has signed for three years, done and dusted. But one, he’s an agent, so it should be considered served as a full heaping plate of bullshit; two, we’ve seen plenty of players foolishly (lookin’ at you, Figo) sign for a second club – because the first one obviously wasn’t enough.

In short, no one knows anything, particularly those involved.

But I do love that the Qatari Football Association is calling it how it is:

Feindouno hinted in the summer that he would like the challenge, and most probably the money, obtained in the Middle East. With Al Saad promising a large paycheque for the exciting midfielder, who has struggled to fire in Ligue 1 this season, it seems a matter of when, and not if, he leaves.

Something akin to a woman saying “I know he only wants me for my giant, fake breasts and my supermodel-perfect ass, but I don’t quite care.”

This brings up the important question: Who’s in the right, who’s in the wrong? The eternal question when it comes to honoring a contract v being forced to stay somewhere against one’s will. In this case it seems like Pascal’s a mercenary and ASSE are simply holding out for market value for one of their best players, which has been their stance all along. The club could certainly use him as they compete in the UEFA Cup while trying to grab hold of some solid ground after their dismal start to the year (4 losses in 6), not available to pick up a replacement. But he obviously doesn’t want to be there. Damned if they do, damned if they don’t.

Sounds like Qatar is a good place for him, sadly for St. Etienne.