Marked for Thimothé David
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market16 Nov 2026
Fodé Doucouré has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around FC Nantes they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Rémy Cabella in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FC Nantes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Rémy Cabella gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at FC Nantes, and 2 appearances in 14 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Deiver Machado has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at FC Nantes will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market16 Nov 2026
Malo Gusto linked with a move away
The name of Malo Gusto keeps appearing in other people's back pages. FC Nantes say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ibrahima Sissoko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against RC Lens in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market19 Oct 2026
Only the photograph left for Fodé Doucouré
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fodé Doucouré will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FC Nantes the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Abakar Sylla is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Malo Gusto in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FC Nantes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maxime Dupé, and the manager let it.
Match17 Oct 2026
0‑2 to FC Metz, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Loan watch19 Oct 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at FC Nantes, and 2 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Stéphane Lambert to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
A promise honoured at FC Nantes
Something was said to Francis Coquelin and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Abdellah Zoubir is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 Sep 2026
FC Nantes announce themselves in Europe
3‑0 against OH Leuven, on a night that will be replayed at this club for a generation. Continental reputations are made in single evenings and this was the evening.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.14, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A one-man rearguard from Maxime Dupé
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.34, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market21 Sep 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at FC Nantes is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Rémy Cabella in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FC Nantes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match20 Sep 2026
Olympique de Marseille left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
No place for Paul Pogba on the big day
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at FC Nantes pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Loan watch21 Sep 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at FC Nantes, and 2 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.