Marked for Frédéric Dupuis
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match25 Sep 2027
Chamois Niortais will want this one forgotten quickly: 6‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. LOSC Lille were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad27 Sep 2027
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
No sign of nerves from Ethan Mbappé at 20 — 8.31
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ethan Mbappé did not need any: 8.31, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at LOSC Lille training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferland Mendy 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.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
Berke Özer gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Ninety minutes of Ayase Ueda at his very best
Marked 8.86. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at LOSC Lille.
The terraces27 Sep 2027
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 ratings27 Sep 2027
Ninety minutes of Marius Broholm at his very best
Marked 8.51. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at LOSC Lille.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout23 Aug 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market23 Aug 2027
The deal that would have taken Tanguy Nianzou to Sochaux has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to LOSC Lille with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Market23 Aug 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at LOSC Lille is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Frédéric Dupuis is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Louis Laurent has improved at 26, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at LOSC Lille training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferland Mendy 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.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Benjamin André 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.
Match21 Aug 2027
The run at home goes on for LOSC Lille
9 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market9 Aug 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. LOSC Lille have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market9 Aug 2027
Only the photograph left for Tanguy Nianzou
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tanguy Nianzou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around LOSC Lille the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad9 Aug 2027
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ngal'Ayel Mukau commits to LOSC Lille for another 5 years.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at LOSC Lille training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferland Mendy 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Frédéric Dupuis 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.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
“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.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market9 Aug 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Alexsandro Ribeiro’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Jul 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around LOSC Lille people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market19 Jul 2027
Zadig Lanssade has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around LOSC Lille they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market19 Jul 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market19 Jul 2027
The name of Tanguy Nianzou has come up in conversations LOSC Lille were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad19 Jul 2027
A row about effort at LOSC Lille
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ferland Mendy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Benjamin André and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
Berke Özer gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad19 Jul 2027
A season on the outside for Félix Correia
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at LOSC Lille has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Jun 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Tours have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Everything agreed with FC Lorient, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad28 Jun 2027
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Tours
Marius Savidan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Jun 2027
David Carpentier has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Tours
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Laurent was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Tours asked and LOSC Lille said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
David Laurent knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and David Laurent trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market28 Jun 2027
Tours have let the market know David Prévost can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market29 Mar 2027
Maxima Goffi has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around LOSC Lille they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad29 Mar 2027
16 goals and a season average of 7.29. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at LOSC Lille training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferland Mendy 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.
Match27 Mar 2027
Monaco left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad29 Mar 2027
59 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Loan watch29 Mar 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at LOSC Lille, and 0 appearances in 7 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Didier Rodriguez after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Yéli Traoré and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Jan 2027
24 matches without a win for Tours
The run now stands at 24, and the questions being asked around Tours are no longer polite ones.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Olivier Blanc
85 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tours lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match18 Jan 2027
Every point is an argument now for Tours
Position 13 and 6 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market18 Jan 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Tours people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market18 Jan 2027
Tours say no — this time
The offer from Charleroi for David Prévost 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 dugout18 Jan 2027
Didier Schneider: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tours have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market18 Jan 2027
Tours get their man
The chase for Pierre-François Moracchini ended with $170.0K changing hands and AC Ajaccio out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Tours
David Laurent and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
Amaury Charlier damages knee ligaments — 44 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 44 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
An offer of $37.1M for Diogo Costa
LOSC Lille have gone to Porto with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
LOSC Lille offered $28.0M; Paris Saint-Germain said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Market17 Aug 2026
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. LOSC Lille have paid $15.4M for Jean-Luc Sanchez, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A move Jean-Luc Sanchez would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Jean-Luc Sanchez is living that version at LOSC Lille, and it tends to show in the first month.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer from Paris Saint-Germain for Hamza Igamane 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Every dressing room knows how to read a signing like this one. Frédéric Dupuis is not here to sit and wait indefinitely, and the man whose place he has been bought to take knows it better than anyone.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Olivier Giroud and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
LOSC Lille and Tours have settled on $8.2M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Market10 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. LOSC Lille have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market10 Aug 2026
Real Madrid did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $3.5M for Ferland Mendy, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Ferland Mendy gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ferland Mendy has just signed for LOSC Lille, and for once the answer mattered.
Market10 Aug 2026
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexsandro Ribeiro and LOSC Lille agree another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Olivier Giroud 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Benjamin André falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match1 Aug 2026
Frédéric Dupuis had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Dijon were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.87, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market3 Aug 2026
Jean-Luc Sanchez wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Tours hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad3 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tours this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Tours
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Olivier Blanc was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
At 21 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: AC Ajaccio have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Jean Breton. The answer from Tours has not changed — yet.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Rémi Caron
“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.