Amadou Haidara patient at Lens as Sage says he will matter late in the season | OneFootball

Amadou Haidara has accepted a slow start at Lens, with Pierre Sage saying the midfielder will be important later this season. According to L'Équipe, the 28-year-old Mali international left Leipzig after months without action and a left-shoulder injury at the Africa Cup of Nations, cutting his monthly salary to a third, down from above €400,000 gross in Germany, to sign until 2029 for €3m including bonuses. Allan Saint-Maximin has produced one goal and two assists from two top-flight cameos.

Haidara’s lack of rhythm showed during 45 minutes at Troyes in the Coupe de France last 16, a 4-2 win on 4 February. It was already less pronounced in his first 15 minutes at Bollaert against Rennes, a 3-1 victory on 7 February.

Sage says six months without competition required him to regain training levels, and that process is under way. To protect the leaders’ momentum, he has limited Haidara’s minutes, but expects the player’s experience, cameos and possible starts to tell in the run-in.

For now he is fourth choice in the double pivot, behind Adrien Thomasson, Mamadou Sangaré and 19-year-old Andrija Bulatovic, the first back-up. Despite 37 Champions League matches and a €19m move to Leipzig from Salzburg in January 2019, he is content to learn and support the trio while urging focus.

He says seven years in Leipzig ended in a complicated situation, so he seized the Lens opportunity to show his worth. Able to play six, eight, 10 or even wing-back, he sees Lens’s principles mirroring his Red Bull education, pressing first then playing. Sage believes next season, when the cards are reshuffled, should be easier, and in a shifting midfield with Sangaré courted and Thomasson out of contract, patience could bring more Champions League minutes.

Source: L'Équipe