“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Clermont Foot have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Clermont Foot can pretend not to have heard.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ibrahim Coulibaly is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Clermont Foot this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Stade Rennais paid $280.0K and Clermont Foot took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
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
Words at Clermont Foot training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mika Godts 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 53 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Andy Pelmard 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Andy Pelmard 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Théo Ramousse is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Mika Godts 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.
Clermont Foot asked and Paris Saint-Germain said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Théodore Prévost after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Luís Hemir had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 67 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Successful dribbles: 31. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Soriba Diaoune, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.83
A mark of 7.83 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Clermont Foot can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mika Godts was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 74 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Torreense for Luís Hemir 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Clermont Foot this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Chamois Niortais will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Gaël Nlundulu has pre-agreed a move to Clermont Foot, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Clermont Foot asked and Paris Saint-Germain said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Matys Donavin and Clermont Foot agree another 4 years.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Clermont Foot lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Clermont Foot will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Yoann Salmier and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Mika Godts 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Matthieu Guerbert has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Clermont Foot have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Ousmane Diop has written the date down.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Clermont Foot, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Lautaro Cipollone may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Clermont Foot lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Clermont Foot will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Clermont Foot, and it is not being withdrawn.
The fee is $700.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. US Creteil drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Théo Guivarch 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.
At 22 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.
Clermont Foot asked and Paris Saint-Germain said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Clermont Foot know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutJulien Astic asks for a word with the manager
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Clermont Foot lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Malavan had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Clermont Foot will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have shaken hands with US Creteil; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Clermont Foot can pretend not to have heard.
He is 19, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Clermont Foot lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Clermont Foot will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Al-Ahli for Luís Hemir 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Clermont Foot can pretend not to have heard.
$2.6M on the table at FC Nantes. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Soriba Diaoune is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Everything agreed with US Creteil, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Clermont Foot this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
48 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Clermont Foot lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Andy Pelmard 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.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 55 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.
Andy Pelmard 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.
At 22 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. US Creteil have kept their man, and Clermont Foot go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Paris Saint-Germain have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Enzo Cantero has his answer from Clermont Foot; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Clermont Foot, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 62 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.
He is 19, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Clermont Foot have gone to Monaco 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Monaco have kept their man, and Clermont Foot go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Clermont Foot has been clear about where Brian Babit stands, which is more than many ever get.
69 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Clermont Foot lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Yoann Salmier 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Wassim El Abrougui has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Clermont Foot have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
30 games, 8 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Clermont Foot now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kenji-Van Boto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
76 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Clermont Foot lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Clermont Foot, and both men came out saying it was fine.
3 goals in 18 games at US Creteil — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Clermont Foot updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Kenji-Van Boto has written the date down.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
The words a physio says slowly. 85 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kenji-Van Boto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
92 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Clermont Foot lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Yoann Salmier 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 May 2027
Words at Clermont Foot training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Carlos Paz 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.
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Clermont Foot would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abdellah Baallal trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
99 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Clermont Foot lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Yoann Salmier 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.
“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; Clermont Foot are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Clermont Foot, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ivan M'Bahia commits to Clermont Foot for another 4 years.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Clermont Foot training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kenji-Van Boto 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.
8 goals in 30 games at Torreense — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Clermont Foot updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Clermont Foot know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
3 goals in 18 games at US Creteil — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Clermont Foot updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Clermont Foot that is a harder question to answer.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Clermont Foot. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Yoann Salmier and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Clermont Foot training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kenji-Van Boto 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ousmane Diop trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Amine Saïd has written the date down.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Clermont Foot the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Johan Gastien’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
A season average of 7.01 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Clermont Foot know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Yoann Salmier 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Charles Abi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Soriba Diaoune signs something — a contract at Clermont Foot or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. Clermont Foot would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
RC Lens watched Ivan M'Bahia again at the weekend, and this time they did not bother hiding it. Clubs only stop hiding when they want the price to start moving.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Yoann Salmier 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.
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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Clermont Foot training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kenji-Van Boto 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Christian Bos is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Enzo Cantero trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Clermont Foot. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
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.
8 goals in 29 games at Torreense — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Clermont Foot updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
3 goals in 18 games at US Creteil — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Clermont Foot updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
He goes off to be somebody else’s player for a fortnight. Clermont Foot lose him for the window and would like him returned in the condition he left.
The terraces22 Mar 2027
Supporters make their feelings known about Soriba Diaoune
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Clermont Foot would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Clermont Foot know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Clermont Foot. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“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 Clermont Foot will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
A season average of 7.01 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Clermont Foot know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Yoann Salmier 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Clermont Foot training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kenji-Van Boto 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
8 new faces, and Clermont Foot are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Soriba Diaoune signs something — a contract at Clermont Foot or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Clermont Foot, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Enzo Cantero a promise
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Yoann Salmier
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Clermont Foot lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Yoann Salmier and Clermont Foot agree another 2 years.
Yoann Salmier 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.
“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; Clermont Foot are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Clermont Foot. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Clermont Foot lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Clermont Foot will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Clermont Foot this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Clermont Foot training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ousmane Diop 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.
Aidan West is 20, and Clermont Foot 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.
8 goals in 26 games at Torreense — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Clermont Foot updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Kenji-Van Boto has written the date down.
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Clermont Foot lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Yoann Salmier and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Ousmane Diop 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.
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Clermont Foot lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
A season average of 7.01 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Clermont Foot know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Yoann Salmier 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.
Clermont Foot asked and Fiorentina said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
52 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Clermont Foot lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Johan Gastien 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 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Ousmane Diop 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Ibrahim Coulibaly has come out of that comparison in the side, and Clermont Foot have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Juan José Barreña may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Amine Saïd has written the date down.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 7 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Théo Guivarch 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ousmane Diop was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Olympique Lyonnais will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Ibrahim Halilou Mouhaman has pre-agreed a move to Clermont Foot, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
7 new faces, and Clermont Foot are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
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.
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.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Luís Hemir’s exile
1‑4 to Sochaux, 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
He is 19, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Yoann Salmier 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.
A loan enquiry to Stade Lavallois: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
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.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
The deal with US Creteil is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Yoann Salmier 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.
Clermont Foot asked and Stade Lavallois said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Clermont Foot training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ousmane Diop 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Louka Gautier and Clermont Foot agree another 4 years.
Clermont Foot have made the call to Fiorentina. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
In brief
The dugoutKenji-Van Boto is still being punished for one mistake
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Yoann Salmier
AC Ajaccio will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Clermont Foot were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Clermont Foot this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 10.00 — 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Nantes have kept their man, and Clermont Foot go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Louka Gautier and Clermont Foot agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Valenciennes have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Clermont Foot have made the call to Olympique Lyonnais. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Clermont Foot lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
8 goals in one match, Mohammed Guindo on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Clermont Foot and Chamois Niortais.
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Clermont Foot training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ousmane Diop 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.
Successful dribbles: 45. 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.
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Clermont Foot lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A season average of 7.03 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Clermont Foot know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Johan Gastien 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Ousmane Diop 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mohammed Guindo provided it, and the 9.12 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Mohammed Guindo scored in the 88th minute, Valenciennes had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Clermont Foot took the lot.
Yoann Salmier 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.
He is 21 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ibrahim Coulibaly and Clermont Foot agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Clermont Foot this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
10 combined actions and 6.93. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Théo Ramousse and Clermont Foot agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ousmane Diop was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Théodore Prévost left the room before anybody could ask which.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
Tours left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Clermont Foot training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ousmane Diop 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Théodore Prévost to a room that had heard them before.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Clermont Foot will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Christ Okou, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.60
A mark of 8.60 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
He is 19, he is averaging 7.04, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Yoann Salmier 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Soriba Diaoune 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.
Level with 86 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Clermont Foot had all but put away. US Creteil will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Théodore Prévost after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
Yoann Salmier 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ellis Lehane has just signed for Clermont Foot, and for once the answer mattered.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Clermont Foot will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Ousmane Diop 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.
He is 20, and nobody at Clermont Foot signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ivan M'Bahia signs something — a contract at Clermont Foot or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Clermont Foot. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Soriba Diaoune provided it, and the 9.02 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Clermont Foot this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Maïdine Douane and Clermont Foot agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Clermont Foot training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ousmane Diop 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Théodore Prévost, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Clermont Foot this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
Position 7, 16 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Ivan M'Bahia
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Ivan M'Bahia has come out of that comparison in the side, and Clermont Foot have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Two goals and a mark of 9.43 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Soriba Diaoune did not need any: 8.97, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Yoann Salmier 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.
At 23 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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Bourg-Peronnas scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
3‑3, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Ousmane Diop 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.
Yoann Salmier 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ousmane Diop was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Vital N'Simba’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Clermont Foot needing him to play as if none of it matters.
1‑5 to Stade Lavallois, 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.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Christ Okou did not need any: 7.63, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Soriba Diaoune is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Clermont Foot this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals in one match, Christ Okou on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Clermont Foot and Stade Lavallois.
The 88th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Enzo Cantero decided nobody was going anywhere. AC Ajaccio had no time left to answer.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Enzo Cantero did not need any: 7.85, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Enzo Cantero. 1‑0 against AC Ajaccio, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Juan José Barreña and Clermont Foot agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Clermont Foot training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ousmane Diop 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 17 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
0‑5 against Chamois Niortais, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Yoann Salmier 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ousmane Diop was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑5 defeat, delivered by Théodore Prévost to a room that had heard them before.
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Soriba Diaoune did not need any: 8.26, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Yoann Salmier 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Mohammed Guindo 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ousmane Diop was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Théodore Prévost left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 9 arrived, 7 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The offer from Dijon for Matys Donavin 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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Stockport County keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
$790.0K was the most the club would pay and Tours were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
0‑1 to AS Nancy, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Clermont Foot training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ousmane Diop 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 offer went to Tours 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.
Yoann Salmier 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 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.
Stockport County have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Yuliwes Bellache has his answer from Clermont Foot; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Clermont Foot will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Christ Okou scored in the 85th minute, US Creteil had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Clermont Foot took the lot.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Christ Okou, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.90
A mark of 7.90 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Yoann Salmier 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.
$200.0K was the most the club would pay and FC Nantes were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tours have kept their man, and Clermont Foot go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The clubs have shaken hands with LOSC Lille; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
$200.0K on the table at FC Nantes. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Clermont Foot this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
2 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.
Clermont Foot asked and AS Nancy said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Charles Brun is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Thomas Maillard has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Ousmane Diop 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 plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.
In brief
SquadAdrien Hunou has seen what the next man earns
“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.
Allan Ackra has gone, the accounts have $1.1M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Théo Guivarch and Clermont Foot agree another 2 years.
Angers SCO paid $1.1M and Clermont Foot took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Yoann Salmier 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Thomas Le Roux has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Mohammed Guindo at his very best
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Christ Okou did not need any: 7.78, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Théo Guivarch 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yoann Salmier was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Mohammed Guindo 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.
Marked 8.07 — 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.
Still no offer on the table, and Adrien Hunou’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.