Saimon Bouabré explains his decision to leave AS Monaco and join Neom SC | OneFootball

Saimon Bouabré (19) made the surprising choice to join Neom SC this summer. The France youth international joined the Saudi Pro League side from his formative club, AS Monaco, in a deal worth €10m.

It came amid the forward’s unhappiness with his game time at the Principality club, which led to a standoff earlier in the summer. The France international had just one year remaining on his deal and was reticent to extend, as he struggled for minutes.

Amid the dispute,

Monaco got their teeth out and prevented to player from participating in the Euro U21 Championships this summer. With the competition falling outside of the FIFA calendar, clubs had the right to veto their players’ participation.

However, he was able to compete at the Maurice-Revello competition instead, as that did fall within the dates of the FIFA calendar. Monaco CEO Thiago Scuro explained why the player was not sanctioned to play in the Euro U21 tournament.

“He needs to show that he deserves anything from the club. The intention was to have him here for pre-season,” began Monaco’s CEO in a press conference attended by Get French Football News back at the start of July.

Bouabré had ‘fluid, convincing’ talks with Galtier

“With Christian (Mawissa) and Soungoutou (Magassa), we have no doubts (both were permitted to play at the Euro U21 Championships). We need [Bouabré] to show himself, to show he can play on the level. He could have used his minutes better [last season]. I told him this. He didn’t play at the level we expected. First, it is about the sporting requirements to be a Monaco player,” he added.

Bouabré has now spoken to the media for the first time since leaving to join Neom. Currently with Les Bleues for the international break, he spoke with RMC Sport. “It was game time that I was looking for at another club,” began the former Monaco forward.

He continued, “It was Christophe Galtier (Neom manager) who guaranteed me the most minutes. My talks with him were fluid, convincing. I didn’t have a lot of game time [at Monaco] and that was what I was looking for. He said I would play, and that’s what I was looking for. Within reason, the league didn’t matter.”

GFFN | Luke Entwistle