Strasbourg are struggling without Jean-Ricner Bellegarde with Wolves’ £13 million summer signing a man greatly missed since his deadline day move to the Premier League outfit.
Even with those Chelsea links, Strasbourg were always likely to be for a season of struggle. Especially after losing last season’s top scorer (Habib Diallo), their star defender (Alexander Djiku) and a player who, exploding out of the blocks at the start of the new campaign, arrived at Molineux as one of the most in-form midfielders in Europe’s top-five leagues.
Jean-Ricner Bellegarde netted twice and set up two more in Strasbourg’s three Ligue 1 matches before he joined Wolves for a near-£13 million fee on the final day of the summer window.
Patrick Vieira’s side picked up six points out of nine with Bellegarde – scorer of a stunning free-kick against Lyon – but have accumulated just four out of a possible 18 without him.
Wolves signed Jean-Ricner Bellegarde from Strasbourg
“Perhaps people outside don’t see the progression as quickly as they would like. But we can’t be blinded by the fact that we’re linked to Chelsea,” former Crystal Palace boss Vieira argues, defending his side in the midst of a run of three successive defeats (L’Equipe).
“My team has lost players. And some other key players were present in pre-season before ultimately leaving, when we had to hope of keeping them.
“You need to give the recruits the time to flourish. I knew that when I came here. We are starting a new cycle.”
Bellegarde, a stylish, ball-carrying central midfielder, took his superb Strasbourg form across the Channel, the stand-out performer on his Wolves debut against Liverpool. A red card vs Luton Town has restricted his involvement since then, but Bellegarde should return this weekend against a Newcastle United side shorn of so many star players.
A long awaited return for Bellegarde
“(We lost) experienced, quality players,” Vieira protested at the start of October, via Amazon Prime. “When you lose Bellegarde after three or four matches, when you lose your top scorer (Diallo), your experienced players (Liénard, Djiku, Le Marchand, editor’s note), you have to renew your squad.
“We renewed the squad with players who have less experience.”