Philippe Mathieu

Attacking Midfielder (C) - Chamois Niortais
22 Sep 2026
Tuesday
Process

Marked for Philippe Mathieu

5 Edition

The Chamois Niortais Herald

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Market

Vincent Schneider asks to leave Chamois Niortais

“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.

Market

Not going: Édouard Lopez stays at Chamois Niortais

“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” JS Kabylie had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.

Transfer targets

Too dear: Chamois Niortais walk away from Soriba Diaoune

$1.9M was the most the club would pay and LOSC Lille were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.

Squad

Chamois Niortais count the cost of losing Pape Paye

18 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Boardroom

Chamois Niortais go back to the board over Soriba Diaoune

The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $2.0M — a club that wants Soriba Diaoune enough to be asked twice.

Transfer targets

Paris FC tell Chamois Niortais: Sofiane Alakouch is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Market

Hapoel Kiryat Shmona watching Thomas Breton

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Chamois Niortais have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Squad

Tempers go at Chamois Niortais

Antoine Dufour 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.

Match

Vincent Mercier the difference as Chamois Niortais beat Dijon

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Vincent Mercier. 2‑0 against Dijon, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

In brief