Benoît David

Central Defender - Tours
10 Dec 2026
Thursday
Process

Marked for Benoît David

13 Edition

The Tours Chronicle

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Luc Schneider damages knee ligaments — 19 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 19 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Squad

A falling-out at Tours

Alexandre Coeff and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Tours find a way past Red Star

Red Star made Tours work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Squad

Christophe Dumont is carrying Tours

12 goals and a season average of 7.25. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

The terraces

One of their own: Benoît David

He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Christophe Dumont

Marked 8.68 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Benoît David

Marked 8.23 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Noam Bonnet

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Tours

16 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.

In brief

Back issues
5 Edition

The Tours Chronicle

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Tours tear Clermont Foot apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Clermont Foot, and it could have been more.

Player ratings

A brace, and Christophe Dumont takes the afternoon — 9.15

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Christophe Dumont provided it, and the 9.15 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Market

Tours say no — this time

The offer from Grodig for Benoît David 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.

Transfer targets

Tours baulk at the price for Matías Vargas

Gimnasia y Esgrima wanted more than $6.8M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Paul Rolland at 19 — 8.34

The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Paul Rolland did not need any: 8.34, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Squad

Tempers go at Tours

Yann Meunier 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Tours

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christophe Dumont was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The terraces

Tours supporters have found a favourite in Paul Rolland

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Paul Rolland 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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Kévin Diogo

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

In brief