It took Lille manager, Marcelo Bielsa, just 45 seconds to cast out 12 established first-team players, including Nigeria’s Vincent Enyeama, this summer.
One of those players included Eric Bautheac and he has told L’Equipe, how his two years at Lille ended in shame, after he was banished from first-team training by Bielsa when he returned for pre-season training in early July.
Bautheac, who made 41 Ligue 1 appearances for the club, claimed Bielsa had given them no explanation for the measure in a brief chat.
“None at all,” Bautheac replied when asked if the former Marseille manager had given a reason for their exclusion.
“The first day when we arrived he spoke to us for 45 seconds and he left. We didn’t see him again.”
He added: “I thought Bielsa would at least test us. We were surprised and even more so when we saw that we were 12, and the oldest players to boot. I said to myself, ‘It’s fine, he wants the little 20-year-olds to be able to manage them.’ With us, he wouldn’t have managed in the same way.”
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