Will Genoa Loanee Maxime Lestienne Justify Qatari Investment?

Involved in an unconventional three-team transfer, Maxime Lestienne not only has to cope with the pressure at Serie A club Genoa, but he is trying to meet the considerable expectations of his Qatari investors.

Possessing a wand of a left-foot and the drive to bolt past opposing full-backs, Lestienne is another Belgian young gun who was set to be one of the most coveted free agents of 2014.

Nation	Position	Age	Height	Weight
Belgium	LF/RF	22	5'9"	139 lbs

But Club Brugge persuaded Lestienne not to exercise his Bosman right to a free transfer by extending his expiring contract last January. 

"We are very happy to announce this prolongation," Brugge sporting director Arnar Gretarsson said, per the club's official website. "Even though he's [Lestienne is] still of tender age, he's an important asset to Club Brugge."

The imperative phrase being "important asset." 

In the last four decades, Club Brugge have successfully negotiated large transfer fees when putting an "important asset" on the market. 

• 1976, per UEFA's official website: "It was a foreigner who became the first player to command a one million Deutsche Mark fee when FC Koln signed Belgian Roger van Gool from Club Brugge."
• 1989, per UEFA's official website: Marc Degryse moved from Brugge to Anderlecht for a "record €2.25 million [fee]."
• 1994, per Trevor Haylett at The Independent: "Everton move for Nigerian World Cup striker [as Mike] Walker agrees a £3 million club record fee for [Daniel] Amokachi."
• 1999, per BBC Sport: "[Eric] Addo was signed by PSV Eindhoven from Belgium's Club Brugge at a cost of £3.7 million ... Addo tops a list of transfer flops compiled by Dutch magazine Voetbal International."
• 2011, per UEFA's official website: "[Ivan] Perisic is reported to have cost [Borussia] Dortmund a fee of around €5.5 million [from Brugge]."
• 2012, per Hannover 96's official website: "Nabil Dirar, the club's [Brugge's] prized asset, was sold for a club record fee of €7.5 million to AS Monaco last month."
• 2013, per UEFA's official website: "Sevilla FC have signed Colombian international forward Carlos Bacca from Club Brugge for a fee reported to be in the region of €7 million."

Like Koln going all in for Van Gool 38 years ago, Al Arabi offered a landmark fee—€10 million, according to Transfermarkt—to Brugge for Lestienne.

"

So Lestienne is on his way to Qatar. Quite shocked really, he's fallen away in recent months but not sure it's the best move for his career.

— The Belgian Waffle (@TheBelgianWffle) August 24, 2014"

Money talks, just ask Standard Liege's former Belgian Pro League star Imoh Ezekiel.

"This transfer [to Al Arabi] came from nowhere," Ezekiel said, per Oluwashina Okeleji at BBC Sport. "This deal is also good for me and my family and I couldn't say no."

Unlike Ezekiel, Lestienne was not receptive to the idea of playing against Qatar Stars League clubs such as Al-Shamal, Al Shahania and Al Wakrah. 

"Big clubs were looking for me, including AC Milan," Lestienne said, per Football Italia. "[But] I was sold to an investment fund, then Genoa got me [on loan]. It was a crazy summer."

Lestienne referring to Al Arabi as an "investment fund" indicates he is beholden to a group of investors, as opposed to the Qatari club (hence why he is not playing alongside Ezekiel in the QSL).

The suits investing in Lestienne could be using Al Arabi as a holding club, possibly inspired by Juan Figer's Machiavellian ways, per Alex Duff and Lucia Baldomir at Bloomberg:

"

FIFA will investigate an arrangement in which Brazilian players including the Porto striker known as Hulk are traded to European clubs via a Uruguayan team [Club Atletico Rentistas] for which they never appear.

...

Player agent Juan Figer arranges for Rentistas, one of Montevideo's smaller teams, to sign his clients and then loans them to a higher-profile club.

...

The transfer fee when the player is traded is redirected to a company owned by Figer called Lamico.

"

This is the convoluted context behind Lestienne's move to Genoa. 

Despite having bullet train acceleration, fast twitch fibers and outstanding technical ability, Lestienne has completed the same amount of successful dribbles as Udinese goalkeeper Orestis Karnezis (two).

Idolising Bayern Munich's Dutch right winger Arjen Robben, Lestienne played like a quasi-defender in a 2-1 win over Chievo Verona, while right wing-back Edenilson showed more ambition and looked like a right-forward. 

Starting on the opposite flank, Lestienne was anonymous on the left wing in a 2-1 win over Parma. 

Credit: Squawka.com.

Dragging a shot wide in a 1-1 draw against Cagliari, Lestienne's deplorable shooting continued (only 25 percent of his shots are on target, per Squawka).

Having played 286 minutes in Serie A, Lestienne has yet to score or create a goal.

The end game for Lestienne is him performing like a world-class footballer on loan at Genoa, which will lead to a wealthy European club lodging a transfer fee in the vicinity of €20 million plus. 

At this present moment, Lestienne's rich and influential backers won't break even, never mind making a profit. 

Lestienne may move freely on the field for Genoa, though the second he controls the ball, his shoulders are probably weighed down by restless Qatari investors. 

@allanjianga

+allanjiang

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