At the end of the summer transfer window, the Niçois Amine Gouiri and the Rennais Gaëtan Laborde undertook a crossover, the Bretons adding the equivalent of a check for 13 million in the transaction. Nine months later, when Nice and Rennes face off this Saturday (5 p.m.), it is difficult to elect the big winner of this exchange.
Amine Gouiri more decisive despite his slack shots
The two attackers, landed in their club at the very end of the transfer window, have never ceased to maintain opposing dynamics. While Amine Gouiri, at the very start of the season with Nice, had his head in the handlebars, Gaëtan Laborde had scored two goals for the Rouge et Noir before leaving Brittany. From then on, the momentums reversed. From their transfer to the truce linked to the World Cup, the former Lyonnais was decisive 12 times (eight goals, four assists) in all competitions, while the ex-Bordelais had a starving record of four achievements .
Since the World Cup, the impulses of the two defectors have turned around again. While Gaëtan Laborde inflated his counter, brightening his matches with eight goals and three assists, Amine Gouiri dipped slightly, scoring only five goals for three offerings. A blow less well than his trainer Bruno Genesio noted in a press conference. “He is decisive on 20 goals in all competitions, which is still for a striker who is already correct, but I think he must gain consistency. He was a bit cyclical, with very good periods and less good ones”, analyzed the technician, who still delivered a positive verdict on the Berjallien’s 2022-2023 exercise: “For a first, from a player who remains a young player, in development, it’s a satisfactory season, not over and which can be very good.”
Nevertheless, Gaëtan Laborde remains the more decisive of the two players against the behemoths of the championship. Amine Gouiri only scored three goals (27% of his capital) against the Top 10 teams, and was not decisive against the podium teams. The neo-Nicois, he scored seven of his nine goals in L1 (78%) against the Top 10 and even found the fault against each of the teams on the podium (33% of his total).
Gaëtan Laborde no longer essential to his team
Bruno Genesio, former coach of Laborde in Rennes, recalled in a press conference the characteristics of the Montois: “Gaëtan is a player who brought us a lot in the intensity of the pressing he exerted, the races he did even when the he team had the ball, which wears down the opposing defenses which never have a moment of respite with it”, he recalled. It is somewhat in this same style, aggressive and fighting, that Laborde stands out on the Côte d’Azur, beyond his goals.
As for him, Gouiri – “a different player, both capable of finishing actions and participating more in the team’s game”, according to Genesio before the first leg -, confessed “to have to do better, to be able to bring a lot more”. However, the goals and assists of the Breton number 19 have more impact on the results of Stade Rennais than those of Laborde on the performance of OGC Nice. Thus, when the former Lyonnais passes or scores, Rennes have won eleven times, shared the points once and conceded two losses. The Aiglons have won seven times when Laborde was decisive, conceding five draws and three defeats.
However, Gaëtan Laborde seems more essential in Nice than Amine Gouiri is in Rennes. Since the crossover, Laborde has scored 25% of the Aiglons’ goals in Ligue 1 (23% of those of the SRFC for Gouiri), and 24% in all competitions (20% for his competitor). The accounts are balanced, however, by including the assists: the two players are then involved in 31% of the goals of their team in the league, and Gouiri takes a slight advantage TCC. That Laborde will surely want to erase this Saturday.
