Relegated Ballers: Serie A + Ligue 1

Relegated Ballers: Serie A & Ligue 1 2023/24

With the transfer window now open, clubs around the world will be looking to strengthen their squads in preparation for the next campaign, and as far as getting good deals is concerned, there are few better places to look than relegated clubs. Using Smarterscout’s league benchmarking models and advanced metrics, we will pick out some such players in this series.

The relegation battles in both Serie A and Ligue 1 were incredibly dramatic in 2023/24. In Italy, three points made up the difference from the drop zone to 13th place, with established top-flight sides such as Sassuolo and Udinese involved in the relegation battle. In France, Lorient looked set to stage a dramatic turnaround with a 5-0 win on the final day to go level on points and goal difference with Metz in the play-off spot, but after a bit of peering through the rulebook, they realized they would be directly relegated on the head-to-head away goals tie-breaker.

Either way, clubs in both leagues went down with some real quality players and a fair few exciting young talents. We’ve already taken a look at five from Sassuolo, so here are a few more from the others:

Isaak Touré (CB, 2003, Lorient)

Lorient went down with the worst defensive record in Ligue 1, but that was hardly the fault of Isaak Touré.

Signed from Marseille last summer, he proved to be the definition of a towering center-back. Standing at 6′ 9″, he obviously is an imposing aerial presence both in open play and set-pieces, but he showed there is a lot more to his game than just that last season.

Touré’s defending quality was pretty good as he showed improved positional awareness and discipline as well as reading of the game to make blocks and interceptions. On the ball, his retention was quite impressive even though he did a lot of progressive carrying and even took opponents on, using his stature to shrug off anyone attempting to steal the ball. If he can also add a bit more progressive passing to his game, the 21-year-old defender will already become very well-rounded.

Lorient paid €8 million to sign him last summer so they will likely want something at least a little higher than that to part ways with Touré. Still, for such a giant of a center-back (who is left-footed at that), he could come relatively cheap.

Lorenzo Pirola (CB, 2002, Salernitana)

There is a similar story over in Italy in the case of Lorenzo Pirola, who was also a part of the league’s worst defense but did not do too badly personally.

Unlike Touré, though, the Salernitana center-back stands out thanks to the volume of his work but could use improvement in terms of quality. The fact that he has consistently maintained such a high volume of defending quantity across a number of seasons at different clubs is encouraging, though, as is his respectable ball-playing as a left-footed defender.

Salernitana made his loan move from Inter permanent last summer by exercising their option to buy for around €5 million, so one of their fellow relegation battlers from 2023/24 may be tempted to pay such an amount and add Pirola to their squad.

Lamine Camara (CM/DM, 2003, Metz)

Metz have been a bit of a yoyo club between France’s top two tiers for the last decade or so, but they have never found themselves short of talented youngsters thanks to their long-standing partnership with the Génération Foot academy in Senegal. The most exciting talent to progress on that pathway at the moment is Lamine Camara.

In fact, he is being seen as Senegal’s next big star and already has four goals in 11 matches for the national team which includes a string of impressive performances at the recent Africa Cup of Nations. Despite playing for a relegated club, his first full Ligue 1 season was not too bad on a personal level for him as he showcased his exceptional on-ball qualities.

His close control, mazy dribbling and top-class progressive passing surely attracted the attention of many a scout. The defensive side of his game could use some work, although some of it will improve naturally as the 20-year-old midfielder continues his physical development.

Chelsea were said to be keeping tabs on him around the AFCON, but recent reports suggest the likes of Everton and Fulham are more serious about signing him. His transfer fee could be around €10 million, which would be a handy sum for Metz to use to bounce right back up.

Anthony Oyono (RB, 2001, Frosinone)

Frosinone were relegated from Serie A in heartbreaking fashion on the final day, but Eusebio Di Francesco’s side won the hearts of many neutrals with their exciting playing style and youthful squad. Anthony Oyono’s game time was unfortunately limited by an ankle injury in the second half of the season, but he did enough in 2023 to attract interest from the likes of Atalanta, Lazio, Fiorentina and Genoa.

The Lille-born defender is versatile enough to play on either side of the back line though he prefers the right as a right-footer. He is defensively solid first and foremost, offering very good quality through his tackling in particular as well as a good work-rate. ALthough his attacking output could improve, he is a tidy player on the ball who keeps things simple with his passing and is not easy to shake off the ball.

Following Frosinone’s relegation, Transfermarkt value Oyono at just €2 million, so he could be a shrewd signing for any of the Italian clubs linked to him.

Cheick Oumar Konaté (RWB, 2004, Clermont Foot)

Cheick Oumar Konaté moved to France in 2022 from his hometown Bamako after impressing at the local JMG Academy. After spending some time with Clermont Foot’s B team, he started to see some game time towards the end of the 2022/23 season and became more of a regular in 2023/24.

Obviously, then, we have a small sample size of his work to go by, but he showed an impressive level of well-roundedness on the right of Clermont’s defense. He was solid enough defensively and got forward quite well when attacking, both by passing the ball but especially bombing down the wing off it and getting into dangerous positoins. He was capable of beating a defender and whipping a cross in, putting in 3.6 balls into box per 90 on average.

Konaté’s overall lack of game time at the senior would make him a bit of a risky signing for anyone interested, but at the same time he could prove to be a cheap signing in the range of €1-2 million.

By Neel Shelat