Ligue 1 Transfer Market Blog-Week 1

No sooner had the French Ligue 1 season finished and clubs and players began announcing proposed moves. Triumphant Lille OSC manager Rudi Garcia revealed after Lille’s 3-2 victory over Rennes in the final game of the season that, despite the club’s success in tying down the majority of their star players to long-term contracts, one of those players was not Yohan Cabaye and that he would be leaving shortly to join Newcastle United. Gervinho soon followed by announcing that he will soon reveal the identity of his next club whilst Marseille revealed that they have agreed to allow last season’s star player, Argentine Lucho González, to leave after only two seasons with the club.

Paris Saint-Germain then made the announcement that they have agreed a deal to sell 70% of the club to Qatari investors with Colony Capital retaining a 30% share in the club, in a move which sees le PSG not only bridge the gap between themselves and France’s biggest clubs, but also put themselves in a strong position to become France’s leading side next season following disappointing seasons for Marseille, Lyon and Bordeaux.

Plenty of good players in Ligue 1 are looking to move this summer and a number had announced their intentions to depart their current clubs before the end of the season. Lorient duo Kévin Gameiro and Morgan Amalfitano have both expressed their desire to ply their trade elsewhere next season with Valencia and PSG heavily linked with Gameiro whilst Marseille and a number of English sides have been sniffing around Amalfitano.

Dimitri Payet of Saint-Étienne announced in January that he intended to leave les Verts and came within hours of signing for PSG but the move feel through and the young winger saw out the season at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard as manager Christophe Galtier promised to grant the player a transfer if he maintained his good form until the end of the season. The 23 year-old fulfilled his end of the bargain and now ASSE coach Galtier must too and Payet is expected to complete his move to the Parc des Princes when the transfer window opens.

Another player set to join les Parisiens is Nicolas Douchez the Rennes goalkeeper, who Rennes’ General Manager Pierre Dréossi revealed a few weeks ago would be leaving for the capital.

In addition to the players announcing their intended departures, there is an abundance of attractive young French talent plying their trade in Ligue 1 currently. Marvin Martin has had a sensational season finishing with 17 assists and three goals to his name, forcing himself into Laurent Blanc’s most recent French side. Mapou Yanga M’Biwa at Montpellier has had a second consecutive consistent season and will now surely look to join one of France’s big five as he seeks a bigger stage to showcase his talent.

Raphaël Varane has also attracted much interest and is believed to be close to sealing a move to Manchester United despite only having been part of recently-relegated Lens’ first team for a season. It is believed that he is keen on a loan move back to France to continue his development as part of his agreement to sign for the Red Devils.

Grégory Pujol of Valenciennes and Youssef El-Arabi of Caen have had fine seasons in front of goal and will be keen to consider offers from teams in the top half of the table whilst relegated Monaco’s side looks set to be stripped of it’s best young players as Park Chu-Young, Stéphane Ruffier, Daniel Niculae and Benjamin Moukandjo surely will not take a step down to Ligue 2 at this stage of their careers.

With the transfer window opening on June 9^th, plenty of teams will be looking to revamp and strengthen their squads. Lille’s annual sale of their best talent is expected to stop at Cabaye and Gervinho, whilst they have already made moves to secure Auxerre’s Benoît Pedretti as a replacement for Cabaye. Despite agreeing a new contract with their brightest star, Lille still face a fight to keep precocious Belgian talent Eden Hazard, despite his insistence that he wants to remain in Pas-de-Calais next season to sample the Champions League and most likely put himself in the shop window for Europe’s biggest sides.

Lyon and Marseille endured miserable seasons and L’OM have already announced new rebuilding plans by putting Lucho González up for sale. Despite enjoying a fine first season in the south, González has struggled for form this year and his unease off the pitch and fractious relationship with the Marseille fans appears to have made the decision for the club. A lot however, will depend on the future of Didier Deschamps who is apparently in talks with Roma about becoming their new boss, so until a decision is made by the former French international, little transfer activity will occur.

Lyon also have a big decision to take. In a season when the board, fans’ and players’ patience has been pushed to the limit, Claude Puel has become a scapegoat for their failure. It would be a big surprise to see him leading the side next season despite his success in salvaging Champions League qualification from a disappointing campaign. Once a decision has been taken on his future, L’OL will surely be dipping into the market to supplement and replace members of a talented but inconsistent side. This will be financed, in part, by Michel Bastos’ expected departure for Juventus while speculation still abounds that Hugo Lloris could be set to move on too.

Whilst Marseille and Lyon struggle to come to terms with the shift in power in Ligue 1, Paris Saint-Germain should look to capitalise and consolidate their position back in France’s top five with a strong transfer campaign. With a number of veteran players moving on (Claude Makélelé and Grégory Coupet), a strong but shallow squad of talented players and a solid management structure in place, PSG could really make a serious push for next season’s title with some careful investment now provided by the Qatari investors.

Les Rouges-et-Bleu are perennial underachievers and now, finally with a handle on youth development which has let them down so often in the past, they now have a manager in Antoine Kombouaré with whom the fans relate to who is also strong enough to deal with the pressure of managing the club (he has also just extended his contract until 2013). With a group of talented young players yet to hit their prime, PSG can now seize their opportunity to use their newfound financial muscle to buy some of Ligue 1’s best talent and make a serious run at next year’s title and begin constructing a squad strong enough to compete in Europe.

With Douchez replacing Coupet, another name that has been linked with the club is Grégory Pujol. Scorer of 17 goals this season for Valenciennes, he will surely fancy this as his last opportunity to play for a big club in France and would be a great signing with plenty of experience. Kévin Gameiro was reportedly in talks with Parisien officials before the end of the season regarding a move to his boyhood club although that was thought to be dependent on PSG’s ability to offer him Champions League football next season. Without this, Valencia could firm up their interest and take him to Spain adding to their growing French contingent.

Another Lorient player on the move is Morgan Amalfitano who is reportedly attracting strong interest from Marseille, possibly depending on González’s transfer, but has also had strong propositions from English clubs over the last few months. A creative midfielder who has 13 assists to his name this season, he would be a great addition to a lot of European sides but he is just one of many talented French Ligue 1-based players looking to move on.