81 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FC Lorient lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arthur Avom Ebong will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FC Lorient the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.76 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
14 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
109 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FC Lorient lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around FC Lorient they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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 Lorient this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2037
Pablo Pagis 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Philippe Renard is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
123 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FC Lorient lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” FC Lorient have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what FC Lorient can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sofiane Bachiri will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FC Lorient the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 Lorient this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
137 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FC Lorient lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason FC Lorient will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
461 appearances across 13 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bahliseny Fofana will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FC Lorient the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 Lorient this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Sofiane Bachiri reports back to FC Lorient with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
151 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FC Lorient lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason FC Lorient will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
165 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FC Lorient lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason FC Lorient will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
337 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at FC Lorient is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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 Lorient this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 127 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boulaye Dia 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at FC Lorient is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. FC Lorient know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason FC Lorient will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boulaye Dia 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sofiane Bachiri will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FC Lorient the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad20 Apr 2037
Words at FC Lorient training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo Pagis 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. FC Lorient know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Anass Benyahya’s negotiating for him
Boulaye Dia 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sofiane Bachiri will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FC Lorient the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad23 Mar 2037
Words at FC Lorient training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo Pagis 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. FC Lorient know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody at FC Lorient 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.
Boulaye Dia 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around FC Lorient they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Boulaye Dia, and the manager let it.
Squad23 Feb 2037
Words at FC Lorient training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vernon Masara 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. FC Lorient know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The words a physio says slowly. 19 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason FC Lorient will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.65 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FC Lorient lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.83 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Boulaye Dia 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at FC Lorient is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Marked 8.99 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“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 FC Lorient, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.31 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
2-5, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Boulaye Dia 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sofiane Bachiri will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FC Lorient the goodbyes have quietly begun.
10 goals and a season average of 7.52. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad24 Nov 2036
Words at FC Lorient training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo Pagis 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.
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
In brief
MatchVernon Masara among the goals in a wild afternoon
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FC Lorient lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The terraces27 Oct 2036
The mood at FC Lorient 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.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.81 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Boulaye Dia 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sofiane Bachiri will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FC Lorient the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad27 Oct 2036
Words at FC Lorient training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo Pagis 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.