The whole of the 1987–88 season had been a long, sustained crescendo for Éric, and his value on the transfer market had soared accordingly. He would cost in excess of FF20m, roughly twice as much as Manchester United paid Leeds for their outcast in November 1992. That he was not quite as prolific then as he had been the year before was an irrelevance. A return of 14 goals in all competitions for club and country (compared with 21 in the previous campaign) might suggest that he had withdrawn into his shell somewhat. This was emphatically not the case. Bernard Ferrer’s injury had deprived Éric of his main provider at Auxerre, who were still in the process of finding a new balance after losing a number of key figures in the past couple of seasons: Andzrej Szarmach had retired, the sparkling Jean-Marc Ferreri had been sold to Bordeaux, and Patrice Garande to FC Nantes. Cantona was often switched from his natural position as a centre-forward to that of a playmaker, a role in which he excelled, but which was bound to affect his strike ratio.
