By Stefan Acevski / info@eurohoops.net
Tony Parker confirmed for “L’Equipe” that Sylvain Francisco has left the club: “Yes, it’s true.”
Forced to sharply reduce its budget (from 59 million euros to probably 24), because it did not finalize in time the deal with an investment fund, ASVEL no longer had the means to keep a player reported at nearly 16 million euros over three years, who will ultimately move on to Panathinaikos.
In its initial 59‑million‑euro project, ASVEL had attracted Armoni Brooks, Nick Weiler‑Babb and Daniel Theis. These headliners are players the Villeurbanne club likely will not be able to keep either, even if Parker remained vague on these cases: “I don’t know, we’ll see, there are choices to be made.”
Stay of Vincent Collet is no longer at all certain in a now less ambitious project.
“He asked me for a bit of time,” admitted Parker, who is today facing a challenge far removed from the grand ambitions he had for his club at the start of the season. But the former Spurs point guard remains convinced that ASVEL will very soon be capable of achieving great things.
The official announcement
Without announcing numbers, the club confirmed that the budget is revised.
As it’s already reported while initially Parker expected to have almost 60M euros to spend, the expected number is now 24M.
Per the press release: In the midst of preparing for the 2026-2027 season, LDLC ASVEL is facing a revision of its budget for the upcoming season.
After months of tireless work, the club and its shareholders have succeeded in creating a new and unprecedented budget, approved by the DNCCG this Wednesday, July 29th. While it may not fully meet initial expectations, it remains an important step in the club’s long-term ambitions.
“ For several years, and particularly in recent months, we have been working on an ambitious project for LDLC ASVEL. We have had very advanced discussions that have given us hope for a 2026-2027 budget that matches our ambitions. Unfortunately, the discussions and agreements are taking longer than expected to finalize, and this will have an immediate impact on our payroll at the start of this season.”
This is a difficult juncture we are experiencing, but I want to reiterate our national and European perspectives. This delay therefore does not call our project into question; it is a further step in its development.
Some investors, who had already confirmed their commitment to us, have reaffirmed their confidence. This takes time, and we are working to establish their involvement and collaboration with us, so that we can maintain our objectives for the club’s development .
Tony Parker
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