Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AC Ajaccio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Andy Delort 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Matéo Beaslas has just signed for AC Ajaccio, and for once the answer mattered.
Jacques Arnaud, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.16
A mark of 8.16 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Stéphane Royer was one of the reasons people came, and $500.0K does not replace that by itself.
Flavio Paganelli 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.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.08, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
AC Ajaccio paid $500.0K and Chamois Niortais took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Philippe Arnaud from Tours for $220.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jacques Arnaud. 1‑0 against Nimes, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I did not go to Stade Lavallois to sit and watch. I want to come back to Chamois Niortais and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 21 matches say the rest.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jacques Arnaud provided it, and the 8.96 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chamois Niortais this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
At 18 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jacques Arnaud. 2‑0 against Valenciennes, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I watch every Chamois Niortais game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at RC Lens runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Chamois Niortais has been clear about where Théodore Meyer stands, which is more than many ever get.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jacques Arnaud did not need any: 7.95, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Flavio Paganelli 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.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.02, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jacques Arnaud. 1‑0 against Bourg-Peronnas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I watch every Chamois Niortais game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Stade Lavallois runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
9 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Leroy Abanda has just signed for Chamois Niortais, and for once the answer mattered.
“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 Chamois Niortais, and it is not being withdrawn.
Flavio Paganelli 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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Thomas Fontaine has his answer from Chamois Niortais; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Red Star defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Flavio Paganelli signs something — a contract at Chamois Niortais or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The terracesSupporters make their feelings known about Jacques Arnaud
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.18 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Flavio Paganelli 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Chamois Niortais and Stade Lavallois in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Thomas Fontaine and Chamois Niortais agree another 1 years.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Stéphane Royer has his answer from Chamois Niortais; what he does with it is the next window’s story.