The Tours Chronicle
Match5 Sep 2026
No mercy from Tours
Valenciennes will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Tours were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Mathieu Charpentier, 17, steals the show — 8.30
Marked 8.30 at 17, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market7 Sep 2026
Charles André puts it in writing
“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 The request is on a desk at Tours, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 12 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Tours until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Tours bid $1.4M for Kyllian Antonio
The offer went to RC Lens 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Too dear: Tours walk away from Maxi Oyedele
$1.5M was the most the club would pay and RC Strasbourg 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
Théodore Aubry moves on
AC Ajaccio pay $280.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Tours
Aliou Dembélé and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
Tours supporters have found a favourite in Emmanuel Marchand
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Emmanuel Marchand has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
In brief
- The dugout No hiding place for Stefan Bajić
- Match Rémi Renard at the heart of a fast Tours start
- Player ratings Ninety minutes of Rémi Renard at his very best