The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AS Nancy have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Le Mans FC for Zanga Koné was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at AS Nancy, and it is not being withdrawn.
AS Nancy asked and RC Strasbourg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The deal with Clermont Foot is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The chase for Luca Pausé ended with $1.4M changing hands and EA Guingamp out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; AS Nancy are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Add another name to the list: Olympique Lyonnais have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Tammer Bany. The answer from EA Guingamp has not changed — yet.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at EA Guingamp is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Everything agreed with Quevilly-Rouen, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at EA Guingamp can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Tyler Goodrham and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Words at EA Guingamp training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Cadiou is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Paris FC have kept their man, and EA Guingamp go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
Player ratingsTyler Goodrham was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around EA Guingamp they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Francisco González Metilli has agreed terms with FC Lorient for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Tyler Goodrham and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Toulouse FC have kept their man, and EA Guingamp go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Jan 2030
Words at EA Guingamp training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Cadiou is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at EA Guingamp has been clear about where Tammer Bany stands, which is more than many ever get.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at EA Guingamp is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. EA Guingamp will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what EA Guingamp can pretend not to have heard.
Kelvin Amian and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Noah Cadiou falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what EA Guingamp can pretend not to have heard.
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at EA Guingamp is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Samuel Renel has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Tyler Goodrham and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Noah Cadiou falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at EA Guingamp, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luca Pausé will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around EA Guingamp the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Cadiou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Jimmy Dunne and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Diego Fernández wants continental football; whether EA Guingamp can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; EA Guingamp are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what EA Guingamp can pretend not to have heard.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Grenoble Foot 38 had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around EA Guingamp people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cristian Ludueña will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around EA Guingamp the goodbyes have quietly begun.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; EA Guingamp are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Noah Cadiou falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
EA Guingamp interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Interim Coach keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
The deal that would have taken Rayane Messi to Olympique de Marseille has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to EA Guingamp with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at EA Guingamp, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from CR Belouizdad for Luca Pausé was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Tammer Bany was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Words at EA Guingamp training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Cadiou is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
EA Guingamp asked and Olympique Lyonnais said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and EA Guingamp know it.
12 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The mood at EA Guingamp has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
$2.4M settles it between the clubs for Mathis Lainé
Stade Brestois have accepted the money. What EA Guingamp do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around EA Guingamp they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and EA Guingamp know it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at EA Guingamp this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Noah Cadiou falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Stade Brestois have kept their man, and EA Guingamp go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Add another name to the list: CR Belouizdad have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Luca Pausé. The answer from EA Guingamp has not changed — yet.
Diego García and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kalidou Sidibé trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Rayane Messi signs something — a contract at EA Guingamp or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Rumarn Burrell has written the date down.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Fabio Fehr has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Diego García and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at EA Guingamp training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arthur Avom Ebong is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Luccas Paraízo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and EA Guingamp will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at EA Guingamp. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
0‑3 to Angers SCO, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” EA Guingamp have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Noah Cadiou and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
11 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at EA Guingamp can tell you which week it ends in.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
9 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Amiens SC were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Cadiou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Amine Hemia obliged against FC Versailles. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is EA Guingamp.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 97th minute. FC Versailles will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at EA Guingamp, and it is not being withdrawn.
Noah Cadiou and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at EA Guingamp training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elie N'Tamon is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Nicolas Florival has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
A brace, and Louis Mafouta takes the afternoon — 8.59
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Louis Mafouta provided it, and the 8.59 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around EA Guingamp people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what EA Guingamp can pretend not to have heard.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” EA Guingamp may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
EA Guingamp close the window on a squad of their own making
20 in and 13 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at EA Guingamp this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. LOSC Lille have kept their man, and EA Guingamp go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at EA Guingamp, and it is not being withdrawn.
1 for Noah Cadiou, marked 7.97, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The offer from FC Fleury 91 for Diego García was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
$8.4M on the table at LOSC Lille. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and JS Saoura waiting with a shirt. Nobody at EA Guingamp is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Monaco is saying, and nobody at EA Guingamp is enjoying the guessing.
Diego García was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Add another name to the list: Bourg-Peronnas have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Sohaib Naïr. The answer from EA Guingamp has not changed — yet.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at EA Guingamp training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rominigue Kouamé is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. OGC Nice have kept their man, and EA Guingamp go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
EA Guingamp and FC Lorient have settled on $2.5M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The phone has started ringing about Gautier Ott again, and this time the name on the line is FC Fleury 91. EA Guingamp are listening politely and promising nothing.
The offer from CR Belouizdad for Luca Pausé was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Everything agreed with LOSC Lille, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Diego García and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rominigue Kouamé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Diego García was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
EA Guingamp asked and Toulouse FC said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. EA Guingamp have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad26 Jun 2028
8 new faces, and EA Guingamp are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. EA Guingamp know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Stanislas Kielt has his answer from EA Guingamp; what he does with it is the next window’s story.