Clement Grenier has joined Ligue 1 outfit Guingamp rather than taking his chance in the Premier League with West Ham United.
Time will tell whether West Ham end up rueing their failure to bring Clement Grenier to the London Stadium in the January transfer window.
The play-maker is one of the most gifted French footballers of his generation, one who looked destined for the very top and a starring role in the 2014 World Cup squad. Grenier is a footballer with innate vision, class and the technical ability to step into the talismanic shoes of countryman Dimitri Payet in the English capital.
On the other hand, however, there is a reason Grenier is not strutting his stuff alongside Paul Pogba and Antoine Griezmann in Didier Deschamps’ Blues side. A series of injuries have turned this former Lyon starlet into something of a lost talent.
It is telling that, in a time where he is supposed to be at his peak, he has joined mid-table Ligue 1 outfit Guingamp in a cut-price deal after managing just 35 league appearances since the start of 2014/15.
West Ham had been keen to offer Grenier a fresh start, as reported by the Sun, and it will be interesting to see whether they missed out on a real opportunity or got a lucky escape.
“It is an enormous challenge but quite honestly I have no worries about the man or the player,” said the Guingamp coach Antoine Kombouaré in quotes reported by the Ligue 1 website.
“The only question mark is about his physical condition – not his health because he has been training over the last couple of years, even if he has not been playing a lot.
“The challenge for us is to once more turn Clément into the player he used to be. But the more complicated the challenge the more determined I am to succeed with it.”
Kombouare sums it up neatly. There are no issues with Grenier’s technique or ability – more his fitness.
West Ham currently have a whole host of first-team players on the sidelines and could do without another body in the treatment room.
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