PROFILE | What future for Saint-Étienne’s Lucas Stassin? | OneFootball

Not many players came out of Saint-Étienne’s brief stay in Ligue 1 with credit last season. The club had spent significantly following their promotion, but funds largely went on promising but unproven players, who, for the most part, did not seem quite ready for the fight to remain in the top flight. One of the few players who bucked that trend was Lucas Stassin. 

Stassin arrived near the end of the 2024 summer transfer window from his native Belgium, where he had been playing for Westerlo. He didn’t make an immediate splash in the team, and was instead better at finding assists than the back of the net, registering four before he opened his account with a goal against Toulouse FC in December. 

From that point, the young striker found his footing in the league and soon proved that he was a deadly finisher. He scored 11 more times for Les Verts, including in a run of four consecutive games in March. The problem for Stassin was that while he was producing at one end, the club were porous at the other, conceding 77 across the 34-game campaign.

Sainté set €42m price-tag for Stassin

It was hardly a shock that Stassin had drawn the attention of clubs across France, as well as the Premier League. Perhaps some of these teams expected that Saint-Étienne would be open for business, but the opposite was the case. Les Verts have big ambitions and were under no financial obligation to sell due to their 2024 takeover by Kilmer Sports Ventures. 

Stassin reportedly wanted to leave, in part due to an ambition to try and stake a place in the Belgium squad ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and teams did approach Saint-Étienne, but they were all warded off by an eye-watering asking price. Le Parisien wrote that Paris FC were quoted a €42m valuation. 

With Saint-Étienne demanding such a high price, it was unsurprising that the 21-year-old remained with the club as they dropped down into Ligue 2. And it was also unsurprising that it was a decision that has not sat well with the player. He has been a shadow of the player we saw in Ligue 1 and has been dropped frequently from the starting line-up (14 appearances, seven starts, four goals in Ligue 2).

L’Équipe reports that some of his behaviour has caused tensions within the dressing room, such as boasting over his price tag. Stassin’s situation looks untenable in the long term and raises questions over whether Saint-Étienne will sanction a move in the near future.

GFFN | Nick Hartland