Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chamois Niortais they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Antoine Charles 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.
In brief
SquadAt 21, Benoît Faure is already the best thing here
“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 The request is on a desk at Chamois Niortais, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Chamois Niortais have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Chamois Niortais, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Le Havre AC will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Kabangu Alex Teixeira has pre-agreed a move to Chamois Niortais, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Didier Henry 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.
“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.
US Creteil will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Chamois Niortais were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Antoine Charles provided it, and the 9.25 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Benoît Faure did not need any: 8.23, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
“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 Chamois Niortais, and 0 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Benoît Faure 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.10 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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.
Marked 8.04. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Chamois Niortais.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Didier Henry 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.
“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.
“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.
Ritchy Valmé 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.
Marked 8.09 — 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Antoine Charles at his very best
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Benoît Faure did not need any: 8.04, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Joël Veltman 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 easiest signature of my career.” Benoît Faure and Chamois Niortais agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“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 9 matches say the rest.
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.
A performance of 8.41 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Lamine Guèye was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.07. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.85 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chamois Niortais can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Alexis Vossah is 18, and Chamois Niortais have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.