Official | Niels Nkounkou joins Saint-Étienne permanently from Everton | OneFootball

Saint-Étienne have this afternoon announced that the permanent clauses included in the loan deals of Niels Nkounkou from Everton and Mathieu Cafaro from Standard Liège have both been triggered, with the pair signing contracts running until 2026 and 2025 respectively.

The 22-year-old Frenchman, a former Marseille youth product, arrived in January from the Premier League side and has been one of Ligue 2’s best performers in the second half of the season, scoring six goals and assisting eight as Les Verts.

Cafaro has been with the club since the start of the campaign, and has scored five goals and provided three assists from the right wing. His volley against Annecy was named Ligue 2’s goal of the season at the UNFP awards last Sunday. He has previously played for Toulouse and Reims before he moved to Belgium, winning the second tier title with the latter team. Nkounkou, meanwhile, was named in the team of the season.

Having both played a key role in the team’s return to form after a disastrous start to the campaign, the pair will be hoping to help the Loire outfit return to the top flight, having been relegated at the end of the 2021/22 season.

GFFN | Raphaël Jucobin