The FC Metz management team have decided to take the captain’s armband away from hometown favourite Gauthier Hein, RMC has reported.
Hein (29) originally came through the Metz youth system and, after starring for AJ Auxerre as they won promotion to Ligue 1 in the 2023-2024 season, he chose to remain in Ligue 2 with a return to les Grenats. His 13 goals – including a spectacular finish from the half-way line in the play-off against Stade de Reims, helped Metz to return to Ligue 1 and, after Matthieu Udol was sold to RC Lens in the summer, Hein was handed the club captaincy.
Metz are struggling at the bottom of Ligue 1 and, although Hein leads their goalscoring and assists charts (six goals and four assists), there has been a school of thought within the club that his performances have been affected by the weight and extra responsibilities that come with the armband – something that Hein himself denied when asked about it earlier in the season.
The decision to relieve Hein of the captaincy was not made by newly installed coach Benoît Tavenot who, like Hein himself, was informed by the management on Tuesday. However, it was left to Tavenot to provide a justification in a press conference today, saying that he can now concentrate solely on the pitch rather than spreading himself too thinly with other matchday responsibilities and that, if he is disappointed, it has not shown in training.
The captaincy will likely pass to another of Metz’s more experienced players, possibly Benjamin Stambouli (35) or Habib Diallo (30).
