back in Europe but weakened before moving to Marseille, Nantes at the crossroads

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Forgotten, the scenes of jubilation following the Nantes victory in the Coupe de France, on May 7th. Three and a half months later, the context is more cautious between Loire and Erdre. At first glance, there is no fire at the lake. Nantes obtained two points in Angers (0-0) and against Lille (1-1), delivering rather consistent performances. The workforce, ninth last year, has not been turned upside down either. It is however in this stability that the main doubts surrounding the Canaries reside, before a trip to Marseille, Saturday August 20.

As it stands, the group is quantitatively limited. Coach Antoine Kombouaré wanted, at the resumption “between 23 and 25 players”. He currently has 20, in addition to a few young people. Against Losc, four of the nine substitutes were thus virgins of any experience in Ligue 1. “The group wants arrivals, it’s in all of our interests”the coach was impatient after the match against the Mastiffs.

This digital deficit is glaring. Outraged Randal Kolo Muani, free party at Eintracht Frankfurt, Nantes also lost additional players. Wylan Cyprien, Osman Bukari or Kalifa Coulibaly, without being essential, were useful in the rotation. Their departure was not compensated.

“The group is of quality, but over time, it can be complicated if you have glitches”

Antoine Kombouaré, coach of FC Nantes

at a press conference

Nantes has certainly strengthened by repatriating Moussa Sissoko, but the French international is absent for several weeks. The two other offensive recruits, Evan Guessand (on loan from Nice) and Mostafa Mohamed (on loan from Galatasaray) have more the stuff of uncertain bets than safe bets. Their contribution is supposed to fill the void left by Kolo Muani, the club’s top scorer last year (12 units).

Above all, the people of Nantes are not protected from the departure of other executives. Captain Ludovic Blas is in the group in Marseille, but he is very courted, especially by Lille. “Today, there can be no departure! I have four attackers, if only I had eight…”, annoyed Kombouaré. The trainer has put his “veto” transfer of attacking midfielder, there is no guarantee that Blas will spend the fall in Nantes. The same goes for winger Moses Simon and goalkeeper Alban Lafont.

“I told him that we were going to try to take two or three players”retorted to his coach President Waldemar Kita in The Team [article payant]. Without necessarily providing real guarantees, the Franco-Polish businessman said he was aiming “an attacker, a midfielder and maybe a right-back”.

For him, getting stronger is “urgent“, at the start of a busy but, paradoxically, exciting season. The six group matches of the Europa League, awaited for 21 years by the people of Nantes, could take on the appearance of a poisoned gift. The sequence of matches in the league, inherent in holding the World Cup in the fall, does not help matters.

WhenWest France [article payant] asked him about the goal, it is no coincidence that defender Nicolas Pallois replied: “Already, the maintenance!”. In a season with four dry relegations, we should not forget too quickly that FC Nantes came close to correctional fifteen months ago. Ten of the eleven holders of the last weekend were then in the workforce.


source site-18