Friday, 3rd August, 2012

Lille coach Rudi Garcia has told Mathieu Debuchy to knuckle down for the season ahead with the club.

Debuchy was the subject of a second bid this summer from Newcastle United yesterday, but the €6M put on the table by the Magpies has been judged not good enough by the 2011 Ligue 1 champions.

And the transfer saga, which has swirled around Debuchy for most of the last month, has now been comprehensively ended by Lille’s president Michel Seydoux, who has declared that the 27-year-old will not leave.


Seydoux believes that not only is Newcastle’s offer a drastic undervaluation of the France international, it also leaves Lille without time to buy an adequate replacement ahead of a crucial August which sees the club involved in the Champions League qualification round.

Debuchy has been vocal over his desire to leave Lille this summer and was relishing the opportunity to play for Newcastle.

Coach Garcia has now told him to forget this and concentrate on another season with the French giants.

"A coach always prefers to have the best players and Mathieu is one of the best full-backs in France, if not Europe", said the Lille boss to France Football.

And Garcia urged Debuchy not to feel down about missing out on a dream move and instead give his all for his current club.

"He is disappointed. He hoped to leave. It is a normal reaction.

"Now he has to work hard for the season.

"Mathieu is a responsible boy, this is one of the oddities of the transfer season."

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