The FC Nantes Sentinel
Market23 Aug 2027
Groningen come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and FC Nantes did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market23 Aug 2027
Bahmed Deuff agrees terms with RC Lens
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around FC Nantes people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Oumar Pona is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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
A falling-out at FC Nantes
Paul Pogba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Aug 2027
A row about effort at FC Nantes
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mousa Lukaku was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
6 academy players handed senior numbers at FC Nantes
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Match21 Aug 2027
FC Nantes see off Angers SCO
Three points for FC Nantes, 3‑1 the final word against Angers SCO in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces23 Aug 2027
One of their own: Yoan Bonny
He is 23 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
A late step up for Luck Zogbé
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
In brief
- Market FC Nantes promote Philippe Renaud from within
- Market FC Nantes promote Christophe Sanchez from within
- Player ratings Ninety minutes of Yoan Bonny at his very best