Serhou Guirassy: A Tale of Perseverance and Triumph in Football
Serhou Guirassy is a name which is now a well-known name in the footballing world by making history by scoring 8 goals in the opening 4 games of the Bundesliga for Stuttgart which is a new club record. He is currently outscoring Manchester City Phenomenon Erling Haaland and has played a game less than the Norwegian. However the 27 year old Guinea international is only just getting recognition across Europe despite being well known in France an Germany since the age of 19. So who is Serhou Guirassy and how did he get here?
Early Life
The forward was born in France to his Guinea parents and had a few unsuccessful trials one notably at Auxerre before landing on his feet at French side Laval. The 6 foot 2 forward impressed scoring 20 goals in 49 games for the b team and first team combined. These performances meant that the then 19 year old secured a move to Ligue 1 side Lille for around €500,000. In his first season at Les Dogues he made 9 appearances (1 start) netting once with it being a match winner against Troyes in the Coupe de la Ligue after being 1–0 at half time, being one of many young talents starting the game alongside Benjamin Pavard and Mike Maignan.
Auxerre
In the Second half of the season he left to join Auxerre on loan returning to the club where he didn’t get a contract as a teen. Auxerre was the ideal location as they were providing opportunities to youngsters and had the second lowest average age squad in Ligue 2 with an age of 23 years. He was involved in all but one game starting all but his debut and netted 8 goals and assisting 2 playing mostly in a front 2 and help guide the side to 8th.
Koln
After having experienced first team football once again Guirassy earned himself a €3.8 million to Köln ahead of the 2016/17 in the Bundesliga. Despite a promising start to his career the forward really struggled to kick on here due to stop start injury issues and periods out of the first team, making only 4 sub appearances totalling to 79 minutes.
In the second season he was able to stay off the physio table more managing to make 22 appearances in all comps netting 7 goals. He managed to do this by working his way to a starting position in a top league for the first time by October and was a regular, also appearing in Europe for the first time scoring the only goal in a win against Arsenal. However injury struck once again and the forward had to undergo ankle surgery which ruled him out for most of the second half of the campaign where Koln were relegated to the Bundesliga Zwei.
Amiens
Guirassy continued to struggle at Köln, which is definitely the lowest point of his career to date, as the forward only made 6 starts in the opening half of the 18/19 season and he was mostly being used as a left winger opposed to a centre forward. In January 2019 Guirassy secured a move back to his birthland on loan to Ligue 1 side Amiens. Whilst back in France he started every game he appeared n and was only subbed off in his first two games, playing back as a central striker and netting 3 goals in 13 games in a front two.
After the side finished 15th the club were impressed by the forward and decided to shell out a club record fee of €6 million to secure his services for the 19/20 season. He was able to complete a second consecutive injury free season which was a major plus as he was looking like he may become plagued by injuries during his time in Germany. By staying fit for a full campaign he made 23 appearances accumulating to around 2000 minutes (28 game season due to Covid-19 Pandemic) netting 9 times for the Northern French side, notably scoring a brace in a thrilling 4–4 draw with Paris Saint Germain. Guirassy reaching his highest tally in a top flight season unfortunately wasn’t enough to rescue the side from relegation as they were relegated on Points per Game in the Covid season.
Rennais
However by proving himself a goal scorer in Ligue 1 he then became Amiens record departure a year after being their record arrival leaving for €15 million to Stade Rennais. He arrived at Roazhon Park alongside now Premier League regulars Jermey Doku and Nayef Aguerd and made 32 appearances in his debut campaign netting 14 goals for Les Rouge et Noirs.
This was also the campaign where the French born attacker bagged his champions league debut in an underwhelming campaign for the French side scoring on his debut in the competition and a goal at home to Chelsea, but unfortunately the side earned only 1 point in the group stage. However things looked better domestically as he impressed on his first start for the club grabbing 2 goals and was a regular starter, raising his tally in the league up to the 6 in time for the turn of the year. However his ankle problems returned taking him out of the team until February. When he returned the striker was straight back into the starting 11 and netted 7 more goals down the stretch helping Rennes finish 6th in the league.
Despite netting 14 goals for the team the season before the club felt they needed more firepower especially due to his ankle problems they felt they needed extra fire power alongside him. However the arrival of Gaetan Laborde rom Montpellier for a fee of €15 million and came in as the starter replacing Guirassy in the side. Laborde made 32 starts in the league meaning that Guirassy was only able to make 7 starts in his 37 appearances. However he managed to score 9 goals in1000 minutes whereas Laborde only mustered up 12 in an extra 1700 minutes (2700). However it wasn’t all down as he was the main starter in the conference league in its inaugural campaign making 4 starts scoring 3 and assisting 3 more. Also the forward became a full international for Guinea following his parents lineage as opportunities for France looked slim.
Stuttgart
Guirassy was frustrated as one again he had become a starter in his first season but had dropped out in the second and he wasn’t going to sit on the side lines for 2 years. In the summer of 2022 he managed to seal a move back to the Bundesliga which was a brave choice after such a tough time in Köln.
He secured a loan move to Bundesliga side Stuttgart and made 28 appearances for the first tea netting 14 goals with 11 of these in the league, the 4th year in a row he had around 10 league goals in the top flight. His first start was away at Bayern Munch and was able to score penalty in the 90th minute to secure a point for his side. Once again he managed to get his tally to 6 but was then injured in February once again ruling himself with an abductor muscle injury until April. However when he returned Stuttgart were facing down the barrel of potential relegation but the forward scored in his first start back and also in the last 5 games he netted 4 goals securing valuable points to reach the relegation play off. Which he then scored and assisted to comfortably win and kep his side in the division, avoiding a 3rd relegation of his career.
At the end of that season Stuttgart decided to spend €9 million to secure him for this season. He turned down offers from both Fulham and Forest to remain with the German side. Where, as prior mentioned, he has already netted 8 in 4 in the Bundesliga for his side and also scored in the only game in the DFB Pokal, scoring on every appearance contributing to 9 of the 18 goals scored by the side and contributing 1 more assist.
During his time at Stuttgart so far he ranks (in comparison to other forwards in the top 5 leagues): in the top 11% for non-penalty xG, top 2%for non-penalty goals, top 1% for goals/shot on target. Also currently this season he ranks 2nd in most striking metrics such as shots, shots on target and for touches in opposition penalty area behind Boniface. However is 4th for expected goals and is massively over performing (by around 5 goals) suggesting that he will level out as the season goes on. This isn’t amazing news however if he drops to his expected goals he still scores 3 goals every 4 games suggesting his performances are still good even if not matching his 8 goals scored so far.
Guirassy looks to finally have found somewhere where he has been able to settle and perform for a second year for the first time. I would expect to see him pick up an injury as he doesn’t tend to play a full campaign when he is starting games. But even if he does he is definitely set to have his best goal scoring season to date and should keep Stuttgart safe of relegation. He may be considered a late bloomer however this would be the fifth ear the forward will have found a way to get around 10 league goals in a row and now looks set to kick on from that tally to prove himself as a top level striker.
