The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. USL Dunkerque have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what USL Dunkerque can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with SM Caen 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.
USL Dunkerque had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at RC Strasbourg, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at USL Dunkerque this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Lucas Besson is living that version at USL Dunkerque, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad19 Jan 2032
Words at USL Dunkerque training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Robinet 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.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
“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 The request is on a desk at LB Chateauroux, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer went to Monaco this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at LB Chateauroux is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Alex Teves 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.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Words at LB Chateauroux training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gaoussou Traoré 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.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and AS Saint-Etienne waiting with a shirt. Nobody at LB Chateauroux is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lucas Besson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around LB Chateauroux the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Everything agreed with AJ Auxerre, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The offer went to Rodez AF this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Yanis Chahid 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.
Squad9 Jun 2031
Words at LB Chateauroux training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gaoussou Traoré 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.
Clermont Foot paid $74.0K and LB Chateauroux took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at LB Chateauroux, another week without a signature from Ryad Hachem.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what LB Chateauroux can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from FC Metz for Yanis Chahid 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at LB Chateauroux is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Lucas Besson 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at LB Chateauroux this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gaoussou Traoré was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kyliann Lybohy and LB Chateauroux agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
LB Chateauroux asked and Rodez AF 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 remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” LB Chateauroux may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad18 Nov 2030
Words at LB Chateauroux training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gaoussou Traoré 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at LB Chateauroux this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. LB Chateauroux will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. LB Chateauroux know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.