Marked for Matthieu Udol
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match15 Jan 2028
9 matches without a win for RC Lens
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around RC Lens are no longer polite ones.
Market17 Jan 2028
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Match15 Jan 2028
9 matches without a goal for RC Lens
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 9 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
RC Lens asked and Olympique Lyonnais said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RC Lens this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market17 Jan 2028
Jibril Rajil has left for Red Star in a $430.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at RC Lens training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabin Capuano 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.
Market17 Jan 2028
Add another name to the list: RC Strasbourg have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Thorgan Hazard. The answer from RC Lens has not changed — yet.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match25 Dec 2027
0‑3 to RC Strasbourg, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market27 Dec 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match25 Dec 2027
No end in sight to RC Lens's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at RC Lens has to find a result from somewhere.
Match25 Dec 2027
RC Lens cannot find the net
6 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Robin Risser in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RC Lens this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market27 Dec 2027
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Gabin Capuano 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.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
Wesley Saïd 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.
Boardroom27 Dec 2027
Doors closed at RC Lens
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
In brief
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Loan watch
Ilan Jourdren wants to come home
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Robin Risser knocks on the manager’s door
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout1 Nov 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RC Lens this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market1 Nov 2027
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether RC Lens can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Market1 Nov 2027
“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.
Match30 Oct 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Rayan Fofana 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.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Loan watch1 Nov 2027
“I did not go to Bourg-Peronnas to sit and watch. I want to come back to RC Lens and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout5 Jul 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” RC Lens may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at RC Lens
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at RC Lens is running low.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
RC Lens asked and Angers SCO said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market5 Jul 2027
“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 RC Lens, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market5 Jul 2027
RC Lens say no — this time
The offer from Juve Stabia for Jeremy Agbonifo 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.
Market5 Jul 2027
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at RC Lens heard it as anything else.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Abdallah Sima 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.
Market5 Jul 2027
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether RC Lens can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A row about effort at RC Lens
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rayan Fofana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 May 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match1 May 2027
Nowhere to hide for RC Lens
0‑3 against Paris Saint-Germain, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad3 May 2027
Words exchanged at RC Lens
Abdallah Sima 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.
Market3 May 2027
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether RC Lens can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Boardroom3 May 2027
Nobody left the RC Lens dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad3 May 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; RC Lens are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout3 May 2027
A promise honoured at RC Lens
Something was said to Robin Risser and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout3 May 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout3 May 2027
Wesley Saïd asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Apr 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match10 Apr 2027
The wait goes on for RC Lens
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at RC Lens
Abdallah Sima 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 terraces12 Apr 2027
At 22 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.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Yann Laine chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Match10 Apr 2027
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. FC Lorient will be the happier side with the point.
Looking ahead12 Apr 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Wesley Saïd’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and RC Lens needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Loan watch12 Apr 2027
28 appearances away from home and 6 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.00, and nobody on the pitch better.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
Jibril Rajil: 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.” RC Lens have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad1 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RC Lens this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market1 Mar 2027
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at RC Lens heard it as anything else.
Market1 Mar 2027
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Match27 Feb 2027
Paris FC made RC Lens work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and RC Lens know it.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Yann Laine kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Amine Hemia
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Feb 2027
RC Lens sink to position 16
23 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad15 Feb 2027
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at RC Lens
Robin Risser 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.
Market15 Feb 2027
Matthieu Udol 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 RC Lens hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Match13 Feb 2027
1‑2 to Angers SCO, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Amadou Haïdara, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A smaller club would suit Samson Baidoo now
He has had enough of the noise. Whether RC Lens can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jonathan Gradit is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. RC Lens lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match23 Dec 2026
RC Lens bow out of the cup
Toulouse FC go through and RC Lens go home, 1‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Match26 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑3 by Paris Saint-Germain, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Ruben Aguilar 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Jibril Rajil is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Market28 Dec 2026
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Wesley Saïd, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Dec 2026
47 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. RC Lens lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market21 Dec 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Florian Thauvin, 33, rolls back the years — 7.97
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.97 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at RC Lens
Gaëtan Laborde 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
Three points for RC Lens, 2‑0 the final word against RC Strasbourg in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.11 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
16 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Yann Laine kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Looking ahead21 Dec 2026
The leaders are next for RC Lens
Paris Saint-Germain top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The offer went to Stade Brestois this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The paperwork begins on Igor Silva
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. RC Lens have done the hard part with FC Lorient, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
RC Lens ran out of time with PSV. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
RC Lens asked and FC Lorient said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 7 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at RC Lens until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Market7 Sep 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $13.1M — a club that wants Mama Baldé enough to be asked twice.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A falling-out at RC Lens
Gaëtan Laborde and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at RC Lens
6 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
RC Lens and PSV have settled on $17.7M. 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
RC Lens asked and Osasuna said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market31 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
RC Lens spend $2.8M to raise the standard
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $2.8M has been paid because Gaëtan Laborde is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Market31 Aug 2026
The paperwork is done: Rayan Lutin joins from Amiens SC in a deal worth $2.0M. Now comes the harder part.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A move Rayan Lutin 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. Rayan Lutin is living that version at RC Lens, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at RC Lens
Robin Risser 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Gaëtan Laborde commits to RC Lens for another 3 years.
In brief
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Squad
No place for Gaëtan Laborde in the new shape
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Player ratings
The afternoon belonged to Ruben Aguilar
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict