Marked for Vincent Paul
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
The offer from Toulouse FC for Bandiougou Fadiga 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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 The request is on a desk at FC Lorient, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Yvon Mvogo 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mohamed Bamba. 1‑0 against Stade Rennais, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.03, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Abdoulaye Faye 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Vincent Paul has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and FC Lorient will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Market7 Sep 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Arsène Kouassi signs something — a contract at FC Lorient or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what FC Lorient can pretend not to have heard.
Market24 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. FC Lorient have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad24 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 FC Lorient this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match22 Aug 2026
Vincent Paul scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Monaco, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Montassar Talbi
“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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Noah Cadiou 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Igor Silva dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
The stands have heard the Bamba Dieng talk too
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. FC Lorient would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Off the bench and decisive: Vincent Paul
The substitution nobody applauded turned out to be the whole story. FC Lorient were going nowhere until he came on.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Aug 2026
$27.3M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
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.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
Supporters turn on the $27.3M sale of Antoine Huet
He is going to Bayern Munich, the club has $27.3M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jérôme Boyer and Tours agree another 4 years.
Squad10 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Tours training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jérôme Boyer 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: FC Lorient have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Vincent Paul. The answer from Tours has not changed — yet.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“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.
Loan watch10 Aug 2026
“I watch every Tours game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at RC Strasbourg runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.