Ligue 1 The Mercato Is Open For Business..

Yesterday was the opening of the Ligue 1 transfer window and, as a number of early moves were completed and made public, a number of clubs are still unclear on their direction for next season. Teams either with newly-appointed managers or with want-away players need to resolve their situations soon before delving into the market.

A flurry of early moves saw Morgan Amalfitano, the coveted Lorient creative midfielder join Marseille, Nancy’s underrated midfielder Julien Féret rejoin Rennes and Arles-Avignon’s journeyman midfielder Camel Meriem has joined Nice with Nicolas Douchez expected to finalise his switch to Paris Saint-Germain shortly.

Brest also announced a trio of new signings in Lionel Cappone, Ben Eden Basat and Jhon Culma, but many of these moves had been expected and it is unclear where the next significant transfer will come from.

One thing that does seem certain though is that this summer many Premier League sides will be looking across the channel to France for transfer bargains. Early speculation has linked a host of Ligue 1 players with switches to England, and the Premier League looks set to raid France of some of its best talent.

Yohan Cabaye of Lille is expected to complete his surprise transfer to Newcastle United whilst teammate Gervinho also looks set to cross the channel, having informed Les Dogues of his desire to play in the Premier League. Arsenal and Manchester City have been linked with his signature, along with a number of European sides but the Ivorian is holding out for a move to the EPL.

Kévin Gameiro, the second highest goalscorer in Ligue 1 last season is also on the move. Having told his club Lorient of his intention to leave, the French international is attracting great interest throughout Europe. Newcastle and Everton have been credited with strong interest, but Gameiro has declared that he will play for either boyhood club PSG or Spanish giants Valencia, appearing to rule the pair out.

Youssef El-Arabi however, is more open to playing in England without the lure of Champions League football and the 17-goal Caen striker has been attracting interest from Stoke, Newcastle and Everton recently. Another player on the Toffees’ radar is Bruno Ecuele Manga of Lorient. The strong, Gabonese centre-back has informed Lorient of his desire to leave and Everton are leading the chase for his signature.

Following their disastrous relegation Monaco look set to lose a host of players that include Park Chu-Young and Benjamin Moukandjo. Chu-Young has been in contact with Bolton Wanderers who want him to link up with fellow South Korean Lee Chung-Yong, whilst Moukandjo, a Cameroonian international who impressed since his arrival in January, has been linked with a move to Kenny Dalglish’s Liverpool.

Cédric Hengbart of Auxerre has claimed recently to be the centre of heated interest from Stoke, QPR, Wigan and Blackburn Rovers and the defender looks to be on the move after a disappointing season in Burgundy that almost ended in relegation. Finally, Sylvain Marveaux of Rennes who is soon to be out of contract has claimed long-standing interest from Liverpool but has yet to confirm his switch.

It appears that many of Ligue 1’s clubs this summer will be faced with the task of rebuilding and would be open to doing some business to fund this. Lyon and Marseille both suffered disappointing seasons and will restructure their sides, whilst Bordeaux want to re-establish themselves at the top of Ligue 1 but face stiff competition from PSG who now have Qatari investors to fund their quest to become France’s top team. Lille also want to stay competitive and maintain last season’s momentum despite the impending departures of key players Cabaye and Gervinho.

With many clubs needing to sell-to-buy, there is some great value in the French transfer market this summer. Now, with Manchester United set to sign Phil Jones and Ashley Young for a combined £30 million and Liverpool signing Jordan Henderson for £18 million, many of the sides outside the top six in England are unable to compete with the supposed “premium price” of British players. This makes Ligue 1 an extremely attractive proposition. Sides with smaller budgets are able to buy quality players from France at a lower cost than a British equivalent and incoming talent from across the channel has become a regular feature of recent British transfer windows.

However, Premier League sides are not the only clubs looking at Ligue 1 as an attractive finishing school and source of cheap talent. La Liga and Bundesliga sides have both ventured into the French market recently with fair success and the big clubs from Spain and Germany have been linked with a number of France’s best talents again.

The Premier League and Ligue 1 are also set to clash over a number of potential signings. PSG have recently been linked with Shinji Kagawa of Borussia Dortmund and Keisuke Honda of CSKA Moscow. The Japanese pair have also attracted interest from Premier League sides including Manchester United and Liverpool recently, and it remains to be seen whether they still retain an interest in either player. Also, PSG are believed to be intent on bringing out-of-favour Bulgarian Dimitar Berbatov to the French capital.

However, until Ligue 1’s managerial merry-go-round comes to a standstill, the transfer window is unlikely to reach full-throttle. Sochaux have just appointed Mehmed Baždarević as manager after Francis Gillot left to take up the vacancy at Bordeaux and Auxerre have recently made former PSG boss Laurent Fournier their replacement for Jean Fernandez. Nancy and Valenciennes have also recently named new coaches and Lyon face a tough decision over Claude Puel’s future. PSG boss Antoine Kombouaré is also waiting to hear if he is part of the club’s new vision for the future, but Didier Deschamps has just committed his future to Marseille.

So for the moment there is more activity on the management front, but once this is resolved, expect the Ligue 1 transfer market to step up a gear or two and spring to life.