Azor Matusiwa’s sale highlights tensions in Will Still’s Reims relationship

The departure of Azor Matusiwa (25) from Stade de Reims during the January transfer window has highlighted the fractures in manager Will Still’s relationship with the club hierarchy. 

Still had been clear before the January window began that he wanted to strengthen his squad for an end-of-season push to secure European football for next season but Reims were unwilling to recruit midseason. 

This had been a situation that Still was concerned about when he fielded discussions with Sunderland about the prospect of becoming their next manager in December. L’Équipe reported that in private the Anglo-Belgian manager was worried about how his squad would cope during the new year, when Africa Cup of Nations and AFC Asian Cup depleted his resources. 

So to lose a key figure in his team during a winter when the club was not planning to consolidate and for him to arrive at Stade Rennais, ostensibly a rival for Reim’s now distant European ambitions did not sit favourably with Still; as he publicly expressed, “ this transfer does not fill me with joy .”

A sentiment that the club president, Jean-Pierre Caillot, took issue with in a recent interview with France Bleu , “ I understand his frustrations when we take a player away from him, but when I see the squad at his disposal… He has a great future, as does Reims. I don’t know if our futures will be aligned, but for now, Will has results because he is brilliant but also because he has a brilliant squad at hand. ” 

The club would likely point to the fact that they acted swiftly when they brought in an experienced replacement for the outgoing Matusiwa in the shape of Benjamin Stambouli (33). However, results have suffered since the ‘joyless’ transfer took place, with Reims losing twice