© EuroFootball.com
Helder Postiga from Portugal continues to struggle to find his place in elite European teams. Just arrived at the club in the summer of 2004, the striker is once again forced to leave - he has been loaned out to a mid-table team in the French league for half a year. At the end of the season, the French will have the opportunity to buy the player for a longer period of time.
The 23-year-old striker will leave for his new club on the first day of January next year, when European clubs will be able to register new footballers again. Postiga himself has not hidden his desire to leave, as the coach of the national team rarely let the attacking player on the field. The lack of playing time may hinder his chances of making it to the Portuguese national team, which will compete in the World Cup in Germany next summer.
It is reported that the "Saint-Etienne" club is still looking for reinforcement and is likely not limited to just acquiring Postiga. The reason for this is the African Cup of Nations tournament taking place next month, which will see a considerable number of the club's main players participating.
Meanwhile, Sevilla, which had shown interest in Postiga for some time, missed out on a great opportunity to bring in a Portuguese national team player to their ranks. The Spaniards had reached an agreement with Porto regarding the transfer fee, but the decision was to be made in January, as the team's coach Lorenzo Serra Ferrer was choosing between the Portuguese and the striker Florent Sinama Pongolle, with whom negotiations had already concluded.
There is almost no doubt that Postiga's decision to accept the offer from "Saint-Etienne" will likely finally open the doors for Pongolle to move to one of the relegation-threatened teams in the Spanish league.
