The RC Lens Herald
Squad25 Jun 2029
The knee: Lucas Robbe out for 26 days
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. RC Lens lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market25 Jun 2029
Ruben Aguilar asks to leave RC Lens
“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.
Boardroom25 Jun 2029
Ibrahim Diallo signs for Red Star while still at RC Lens
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Ibrahim Diallo has agreed terms with Red Star for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Tempers go at RC Lens
Axel Carrasco 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.
Market25 Jun 2029
Alexandre Pierre has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around RC Lens they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2029
RC Lens baulk at the price for Mário Sauer
Toulouse FC wanted more than $490.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad25 Jun 2029
A row about effort at RC Lens
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samson Baidoo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market25 Jun 2029
Ignacio Vallejos wants European nights
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
The dugout25 Jun 2029
Danny Namaso 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.
In brief
- The dugout When it matters, Florian Thauvin plays
- Squad Too much change too quickly at RC Lens
- The dugout Mattia Fortin knocks on the manager's door