From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Aug 2026
Robert Vincent damages knee ligaments — 33 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 33 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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $7.0M — a club that wants Andrija Bulatović enough to be asked twice.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Sofian Bahloul 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
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.
Market17 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Sparta Prague 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A loan move for Simon Kalambayi is in the works
US Orleans have made the call to RWDM. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at US Orleans training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Esteban Mouton 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
Ouparine Djoco arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ouparine Djoco has, at US Orleans, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The offer went to RC Lens 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Sofian Bahloul and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Sébastien Robin 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Arnaud Brunet is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Jérôme Lefèvre 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Nicolas Mathieu is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad10 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and US Orleans 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Robin Legendre and US Orleans agree another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Jimmy Giraudon 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Steven Luyambula 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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Angers SCO: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to LB Chateauroux: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Marvin Baudry retires from international football
“33 caps. I have loved every one, and it is somebody else’s turn.” At 36 he has stepped away from his country and is going nowhere at US Orleans.
Market3 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Mohamed Ezzarhouni has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at US Orleans.
Market3 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.