Player Focus: How Franck Tabanou Can Improve Saint-Étienne

Back in May, WhoScored.com had the pleasure of interviewing striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The then Saint-Étienne player spoke highly of Champions League runners’ up Borussia Dortmund, saying: “I have seen a lot of Borussia Dortmund’s matches, and I love their style of play. My characteristics could match perfectly with the style of play adopted by Jürgen Klopp.”

Less than two months later - on July 4th, to be exact - Aubameyang secured a switch to the Westfalonstadion as Die Schwarzgelben aimed to counter the departure of Mario Götze for Bayern Munich. With an average rating of 7.13, it was always going to be difficult to replace a player of his quality. Yet, the Ligue 1 side have moved to ease the loss of the 24-year-old by signing Toulouse’s Franck Tabanou.

The move away from the Stadium Municipal brings an end to the seven-year association between the player and club - four of which has seen him a first-team regular. The club won 36.8% of the 133 games the wideman was involved in since making his debut in 2009 compared to 25% of the 24 without him, and Toulouse have seen a number of their prized assets linked with moves away this summer. Étienne Capoue was certainly the more talked about transfer target as the deal taking Tabanou to Saint-Étienne seemingly snuck under the radar.

Tallies of four goals and four assists were decent for a player who predominantly played on the left of midfield, but he showcased his capability to push forward with the verve to attack the opposition. Indeed, his average of 1.2 successful dribbles per game was the best in the entire Toulouse squad last season. It’s this directness that convinced Les Verts to part with a fee believed to be in the region of €5m for the former France U21 international. Possessing the ability to drift past the opposition with the ball saw Tabanou accrue a dribble success rate of 47.1% from 85 attempts.

Yet, it’s somewhat unfair to suggest that the Frenchman will be a predecessor to his former Ligue 1 counterpart, regardless of Tabanou's cannonball of a left-foot. The 19 goals and nine assists Aubameyang helped himself to last season saw him directly contribute to 46.7% of Saint-Étienne’s 60 league goals; a vastly superior return when compared to Tabanou’s 16.3% for Toulouse. Moreover, the former’s shot accuracy stands at 53.3%; again a significant improvement on the latter’s 26.25%.

Rather than provide the goalscoring threat for his new team, Tabanou would be expected to utilise the visionary side of his game, having created five clear-cut chances with Les Pitchouns - only Étienne Didot (10) created more - while the same player (74) was the only one who executed more key passes than Tabanou (32) for Toulouse. All this for a team that netted 11 fewer goals than their Ligue 1 counterparts, so it’s likely that he would build upon the four assists he picked up last year.

With a cross accuracy of 20.5%, it’s expected that head coach Christophe Galtier would aim to position him in the attacking midfield trio behind the lone frontman in the 4-2-3-1 formation Saint-Étienne used 34 times last season, and exploit Tabanou’s ability on the wing. But it isn’t just his attacking capability that would prove to be a vital asset to the team in the upcoming season. Tabanou won possession in the midfield third 41 times for Toulouse over the 2012/13 campaign, while averages of 1 tackle and 0.8 interceptions per game show that he does have the ability to break up play.

Combined with his creative talents, Tabanou is the grafter that Saint-Étienne need in order to build on their 5th placed Ligue 1 finish, having missed out on a Champions League spot by just four points. Despite having predominantly played deeper for Toulouse last season, making just five of his 34 league starts as either an attacking left midfielder, a left forward or a centre forward, the player is capable of operating higher up the pitch, should the need arise.

While insinuating that he is a replacement for Aubameyang would be incorrect, his ability to drift past the opposition and provide an accurate cross would bolster the inventive ranks of a team that created 79 clear-cut chances in Ligue 1 last season - only Paris Saint-Germain (83) created more as a collective - last year. The move would also be expected to favour Tabanou himself as he aims to land his first France international cap, while allowing him to flex his creative muscles both domestically and continentally in the hope of attaining more plaudits over the season and winning the admiration of Les Bleus head coach Didier Deschamps.