Cristian Casseres has signed a new contract with Toulouse Football Club (TFC) that runs until 2028, turning down interest from clubs in France and elsewhere in Europe, including sides that play in the Champions League, during the summer transfer window.
The Venezuelan midfielder, 25, had looked set to leave the Ligue 1 club for months. Instead, Olivier Cloarec and Viktor Bezhani persuaded him to stay and extend his contract, in what was seen as one of the best pieces of business Toulouse did all summer given how central Casseres has become to the club's young squad.
Toulouse's communications team marked the news with the pun "Cassereste", playing on the French word for staying. Head coach Jens Berthel Askou found the wordplay amusing enough to repeat it himself at a press conference, a sign of how highly the club rates its midfielder.
A key player by the numbers
Casseres joined Toulouse in 2023 and has carried his strong form from last season into the start of the 2026-2027 campaign. According to the data provider Opta, he leads Ligue 1 this season for duels won, with 36, and for successful tackles, with 11. He also ranks third in the league for defensive ball recoveries, with three, and third for passes leading to a goalscoring chance, also with three. The figures back up the sense that he is both a defensive and a link-up midfielder, influential in every part of the pitch.
Buying into Berthel Askou's system
Casseres said conversations with Cloarec, Bezhani and Berthel Askou, whom he calls "El Profe", Spanish for "the teacher", won him over to the project straight away. He said the agreement to stay was built on the idea that it would help him keep developing as a player, adding that this had already shown in the first three matches of the season, in which he said he felt very free on the pitch.
He said Cloarec and Bezhani had brought in a coach of a very high level who has given the team a new structure, and that he had enjoyed it from his first training sessions under him. He described the style as a little more physical and said it made his own game more complete, noting he had played in a similar way before at the New York Red Bulls, his previous club. He said there was a lot of desire, pressure and intensity in the way the team now plays, and above all a wish to have the ball, which matters to him.
Doubts, faith and family
Casseres admitted that after three years in Toulouse he had wanted to discover something else, new people and new places, and said he had asked himself a lot of questions over the close season.
He went through some difficult moments last season, including refusing to celebrate a goal against Nice after a proposed move away from the club fell through during the January transfer window.
He said that when he was at home, in bed, he had asked God where he should go, and that the answer he received was to stay for one more year, or two. He also spoke repeatedly about the attention the club had shown his wife and his son, who recently turned one, saying this mattered greatly to him. In February he had said he was going through a very difficult family situation, which he gave at the time as a reason for wanting to leave, before eventually deciding to stay in Toulouse.
Contract runs to 2028
The new deal removes any risk of Cloarec losing Casseres for nothing as a free agent next summer. Casseres, who captains Venezuela and has 41 international caps, is now regarded as one of the best midfielders in Ligue 1.
Casseres said he would very much like to play in Europe again, having already featured in the Europa League with Toulouse. He said he would not rule out staying for a further season if the club qualifies for Europe again.
