Selling Emerson was a pretty straightforwards affair, and the 5M€ man (Rennes’ biggest transfer last summer) reutrned to Al-Saad (in Qatar), for 2M€ more than he joined for (7M€ that is). Pretty good deal by anybody’s standards to make a profit off a player who only played 30 minutes in 5 months. Edman only had 6 months left on his contract, but everyone was O.K. on him leaving this winter. As a lot of Rennes players have done recently, he left for the EPL’s greener pastures and met up with ex-Rennes player Mario Melchiot at Wigan in a bid to keep them away from the Championship.

To replace Edman, Rennes managed to get Djimi Traore of Portsmouth (and ex-Liverpool glory/shame, you choose) on loan with the possibility of buying him if he performs well enough. Traore is a Champions’ League winner with Liverpool (2004/05), but also has all three trophies of the “Treble of cups” that Liverpool did in 2000-01 : FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup. So he’s quality enough for Rennes! Sure, he’s prone to lapses in concentration, but he’s used to playing at the highest level, and since he’s only 27 it’s a great step forwards for Rennes to attract an important player, even if he wasn’t called up by Mali for their ACN 2008 squad. He will recieve a more central role than Edman had, since Echiejilé is proving to be a very decent left-back, and Hansson is the player Lacombe seems to find the weakest at the moment in Rennes’ back four.

However, Rennes also scooped up a young player in the last days of the transfer window, signing Zambia international Fzlix Katongo from Atlético Petróleos Luanda in the Angolan Girabola. Now, I don’t know what this young player is worth, but he did contribute a goal to Zambia’s three-nil win over Sudan (ok, not exactly world-class opposition), and is described as an overall lively and intelligent midfielder. He might not be an important addition for the latter stages of the season, since Rennes have a lot of talent in midfield and attack, but since he’s only 23, he might be a very good signing for next season or the one after, when our ageing stars (Pagis, Leroy, Wiltord, Moreira, Cheyrou) decide to step down a gear or give up the beautiful game. Anyway, he’s joined on a very small transfer (200,000€) so it’s not a big problem if he’s a flop.

Videos~:

Djimi Traore lifting the UEFA Cup in 2001 with Liverpool after beating Deportivo Alaves 5-4 on the Golden (Own) Goal rule :

P.S. Skip 5 minutes.

Djimi Traore and Liverpool’s epic 2005 Champions League win against Milan :

The worst day in Djimi Traore’s life? Probably.

Zambia’s 3-0 win against Sudan in the 2008 ACN in Ghana (third goal by Felix Katongo):

Now, two good players might seem a bit of a weak foundation for a “tradition”. After all, pretty much any club that has been in their division’s top flight regularly since the 1980s or 1970s has probably seen at least 4 or 5 countries supply two or three good or great players… But Rennes isn’t a team that’s very attractive. Sure, we had a few foreigners, but when Pinault bought Rennes in 1998 he went wild, buying anything that could kick a ball straight. After a series of flops, by 2003 a new club policy had been designed : youth. Since then, Rennes have relied on their youth system to push out good players year in and year out. So buying players is still there, but they’re intended to “help” the team rather than “be” the team…

Along with this change of policy, Rennes also made a few good transfers thanks to a cell that began to rely on “how well the player plays football” rather than “how much money is he worth” or “where does he play”… So we brought in a few players around 2002-2003 that included Cech (now of Chelsea fame) and Frei (now at Dortmund)… And finally, we had a team that was working! Instead of internal stardom struggles and such, we rose slowly but surely from lower-half finishes (if not almost relegation battles) to mid-table finishes and then Europe!

One of the architects of this rise was midfielder Kim “Kongo” Källström. His great matches alongside Gourcuff, Didot or Sorlin made him one of the best players in France. But when during the summer of 2004 he helped Rennes find a successor to Cech by touting a kid he had played with in Sweden -Andreas Isaksson- and said successor proved to be just as good a find as Källström, it’s not surprising the media started to see Rennes as a “swede colony”. The swedes were praised not only as being good footballers, but also as model professionals. At a time when Brazilian players joined Rennes to party for a year, the swedes were down-to-earth deadpan professionals who also seemed to adapt effortlessly.

It’s not a surprise that Rennes tried to follow on, and picked up a third swede when Erik Edman decided that the bench at Tottenham wasn’t quite as nice a prospect as Ligue 1. For a season, Rennes had three swedes on the pitch for a few games, and seen how all three were impressive, people started to get excited about the prospect Swedish footballers were for Ligue 1 clubs : good footballers, calm, hard-working people, and best of all, a developed league that was weaker than French football full of EU players!

But it started going sour during the 2006 summer for Rennes. The main incident was the departure of Kim Källström to Lyon. By losing a vital link (as well as the other midfield starlet Gourcuff who went to AC Milan) Rennes’ team was strongly affected during the summer, and it was unsure if the good performances of the past two years could be repeated. It’s similar to the worries raised by the departure of Petr Cech to Chelsea, if that can help you see how big it was. Lesser incidents were the departure of Andreas Isaksson to Manchester City, the non-capture of Johan Elmander, who signed at Toulouse instead of Rennes, and the non-capture of Cristian Wilhelmson, who went to rivals Nantes, then Roma, then Bolton. I kid you not.

“Hi, I’m Andreas Isaksson. I’m a great goalkeeper. Sadly, the only picture of me diving on the internet is this one, where I concede a goal from an unstoppable shot by Joe Cole.”

Isaksson’s departure wasn’t too bad because Pouplin had nicked his starting place during the season, but it meant Edman was the only swede in the club, for better and worse. The non-signing of Elmander didn’t seem to bad at first, but it’s clear that he’s quality, so missing out on him raises the typical “we could have been…” feeling every fan knows. Wilhelmson isn’t quite as bad, but he is a good winger who would have been useful for Rennes. Overall, it seems that Ligue 1 started to hone in on Swedish talent, looking for the next Ibrahimovic… With more -Elmander took Toulouse to a Champions League finish to surprise everybody- or less -Wilhelmson’s Nantes were relegated after some 40 years in the top division- success…

This summer, Dréossi brought in Hansson to help our very slim defensive forces. He’s tall, he’s a hard worker… But he’s not very good. His placement isn’t great, and his concentration is just not there for 90 minutes. He’s pretty average, in fact. But that’s not the only bad piece of news that is putting the nails in the coffin of our “Swedish” cell : Edman’s level has gone down the drain. He used to be part of one of the best defences in Ligue 1, but this year he’s just made too many blunders, too many approximations, and not enough good games, offensively or defensively.

Edman and Hansson in Sweden regalia.
Now, if only they were as good as Källström and Isaksson…

So Guy Lacombe has dropped him, and seems intent on letting the swede leave. Today, he declared that “It’s true that we have talked about his departure. It’s imperative that we find a defender in his position to allow Erik’s transfer. I think we all agree. He wants it and the club does as well. It is a matter of circumstances. I think it will be done in time“. The “He wants it and the club does as well” is what stroke me. I think that Lacombe is going to rely on Echiéjilé, and has either told Edman he’s nothing more than a bench player, or that Edman understood it on his own.

Anyway, this is surely the end of the Swedish link at Rennes. Two great players for two average players and two high-profile misses (one great and one average) have finished it. We’re going to finish getting rid of all the players that came in through this cell, because although Hansson and Edman are decent Ligue 1 players, they’re not Europe material. And from what Dréossi saw this season, and what Lacombe has had to work with, I’m sure that they’ll both be a lot more cautious when considering Scandinavian players…

I started out just to make a rare “transfer musing” post, but it went kinda out of proportion… So I’ll make my transfer musing now : Erik Edman would be on the tabs of Wigan as a first-team player, or on the tabs of Tottenham as a substitute should Chimbonda leave. However, any departure is subject to Lacombe signing an extra defender, who could be one of the following : Marko Ljubinkovic (FC Vaskui), Daniel Majstorovic (FC Basel), Marek Cech (FC Porto) or Rolando (Belenenses)… Cech seems almost impossible, since he and Porto have dismissed any rumours, saying he won’t move before the summer. Ljubinkovic is quite possible, despite Vaskui’s announce that he won’t be allowed to leave this winter, since a few millions could probably change their mind. Rolando is apparently followed by a couple teams that would probably beat Rennes to sign him (Dynamo Kiev, Porto, West Ham, Lazio, Monaco), and his contract runs out in July, but I wouldn’t rule him out to join Rennes for a year or two, since he’s only 22. Majsorovic is the hottest link so far though, and although he put in a decent display against Rennes in the UEFA Cup, I don’t know much about him. So there you have it.

Cyril Jeunechamp has legged it off to Nice.
Bordeaux remember that they’re supposed to be the second best team in Ligue 1.
Christophe Lollichon is Chelsea’s latest signing.
And Guingamp helped Rennes stay in form in a 1-1 draw.

I know that you can’t keep loads of talented players when you’re a second rank club in your country, and Jeunechamp’s disappointment at not playing often under Dréossi is perfectly understandable. But I’m still sad to see him leave. He wasn’t the most technical player Rennes ever saw, nor the most physical. But he was a strong defender full of fighing spirit in a team that often seems to lack bouncebackability…

I felt he was a very useful squad player, who should have been challenging Edman for a place at left-back, or M’Bia in the center of defence. But he is a right-back by trade, who can also play as a defensive midfielder, and Fanni, Didot, Cheyrou and M’Bia are just a touch better in those positions, meaning he was limited to a place on the bench.

Au revoir, Cyril. You were a devoted servant to Rennes for 5 of the most glorious years the club has known, and your part in that success is obvious. You were the backbone, the elder brother of a squad that relied time after time on youth to replace departing players, and you never failed us. Chapeau l’artiste. I wish you well at Nice, and I guess you’ll be part of one of the hardest defences to play against with Rool, Kanté and Hognon at your sides !

Rennes took a trip to Bordeaux with only a slight advantage in the league ranking over the south-western side. But what could have been a benchmark game for Rennes turned into a nightmare. Without Pouplin and Wiltord, injured, Rennes failed collectively to contain good if un-creative Girondins.

Man Utd fans might remember Bellion as one of the many players that were supposed to be fabulous but just never made the cut. Well, since joining Bordeaux, Bellion has been firing on all cylinders, and added two goals to his tally against Luzi. A penalty after 8 minutes and a good shot just after the break were enough to give Bordeaux leeway for the latter stages of the game. As Rennes took off Edman and Leroy, replaced by Kembo-Ekoko and Badiane in a bid to get back in the game, Bordeaux curled up in defence, and counter-attacked, Obertan getting to the end of a cross with less than ten minutes left to seal the result, and put Bordeaux 3rd, one point ahead of Rennes.

The result is harsh on Rennes, who were equals to their opponents for most of the game. Marveaux tried a lot, but was unlucky against Ramé, going very close to a hat-trick, with 3 shots almost clipping the woodwork. Leroy was good, but sadly not excellent as he has so often been. Without Wiltord beside him, he was slightly isolated, and couldn’t cause much damage to a very solid Bordeaux side. To pick out a third player would be hard, with a mid-field that was not creative enough, despite good intentions, Briand too isolated in attack, and a back four who proved un-easy when coping with the fast counter-attacks Bordeaux lead. Fanni was the only player to bring a real offensive contribution, but often left his wing open, and Bordeaux used it well. Luzi had a hard night, but shouldn’t be disappointed, as the penalty can’t be counted against him, and the other two goals were far from ridiculous.

Chelsea are full of money, but since Mourinho’s departure, they seem to be on some kind of a signing spree. However, the signings they’re making are all low-profile and will not get many playing minutes. Why? Because they’re coaches.

Christophe Lollichon is perhaps one of the best coaches out there. As a goalkeeping coach, the names of the people he has trained with is anything but brilliant : Petr Cech, Andreas Isaksson, Bernard Lama, Christophe Revault, Simon Pouplin… And the most astonishing is that he trained all of them whilst at Rennes ! From what I’ve heard, Grant, Ten Cate and even Abramovich had been pressured by Cech himself to get Lollichon amongst the staff ! I guess that goes to show what the people that train with him think of him…

I wish him all the best with Chelsea and Cech… As long as they don’t play against Rennes.

Even when the league is stopped, Rennes try to keep in form, and the friendlies with lesser clubs such as Guingamp help the manager to see who’s going up, and who’s going out. In a rather boring and low-gear game, a few kids showed they were good (Borne, M’Vila, Lemoine), and others confirmed their talent (Kembo-Ekoko, Le Tallec). But it’s also great to see that some of the injured players could be on the way back into the starting XI : Emerson was said to be the best player Rennes had on the pitch by Dréossi himself, and Moreira as well as Catherine put in good games.

Moreira answered Djoman’s opening goal (24′) with a little lob over Bodin (33′), but in the 60 minutes that were left, Rennes dominated the game without managing to find the back of the net.

Once again, sorry to have been absent for so long, but I hope to get back to better habits very soon.

Not only has Sylvain Wiltord been added to the rooster, but Al-Saad’s Brazilian striker Emerson has joined for 5 Million €. And these two will mean that Briand, Thomert, Moreira and Pagis are going to have to fight like hell to be one of the two starters.

Sure, when Rennes were first linked to 28 year-old Marcio Emerson Passos, I thought it was a bit of a joke, since we were in the middle of the Wiltord saga, and I expected it to be a ploy to get Aulas to free Sylvain of his last year. Emerson, who played for Al-Saad, and won the Q-league last season, is also well-known to Japanese fans thanks to his 71 goals for the Uwara Reds. But his 5 Million € price tag still seems a bit heavy. After all, it is only the J-league and the Q-league… Rennes have got UEFA Cup matches to win!

Now, I’m not going to fall for Youtube videos. First off because I doubt the Q-league and J-league opposition is up to the level of Ligue 1 football, but also because based on Youtube videos, you’d think that any player is good. Even Niang or Frau. Sorry, Massaer and Come. But I’ll not write him off, because I’m confident that if Dréossi and his staff are taking the risk, then Emerson can step up to Ligue 1 level.

After all, Kader Keita showed that the best players in Q-league can also become great Ligue 1 players, much to Inara’s delight. However, they do seem to remain inconsistent… Let’s see if Emerson can better Keita on that side! Because their profiles seem quite similar : pacey players who made strange career choices when they were 21, but who went on to shine in those leagues, even though they were seen as slightly dilettante.

Now, Emerson can bring a lot to Rennes if he is half as good as Dréossi pretends he is, and if he adapts well, then the 5 Million € kid from the gulf could be the best signing in Ligue 1 this year. On the other hand, he could be blockaded out of the team by Briand’s similar physical profile, Wiltord’s eye for goal and Pagis‘ technique, making him just “another” Brazilian that could crash on the grassy shores of the Villaine… Like Lucas, Luis Fabiano, Vander or Dudu Cearense did… Perhaps if he were a swede I wouldn’t be so doubtful.

After being linked to PSG, OM, some Qatari club and the usual mid-table Premier League hopeful (more or less seriously), the prodigal son has finally come home.

Although he was from Joinville, a suburb of Paris, Rennes spotted the talented youngster in 1991, and snapped up the 17 year-old, even if the young Wiltord could only find the Rennes Cyclist Club on his first visit to the capital of Brittany. The following season, as Rennes went down to League 2, Wiltord got first-team opportunities, and showed promise, thanks to his athleticism and eye for goal. By 19, he had become one of Rennes’ main players, and he helped the Stade back into Ligue 1. Three seasons later, Wiltord left to join Bordeaux, where his skill became apparent : League Cup finalists, French champions the following season, as well as top goalscorer. Wiltord’s talent started to attract other clubs, and in 2000, Arsene Wenger brought a little more French Touch to Highbury by signing the recently-crowned European Champion.

At Arsenal, Wiltord continued to show his quality, by adding two league titles to his roll of honour, as well as two FA Cups. He also continued to hold a French first team position, as he helped France win the Confederation Cup in 2001 and 2003. But all good things had an end, and Wiltord ended up being edged to the bench at Arsenal, who sold him to Lyon in 2004.

At Lyon, he became the first-choice right winger, ahead of Govou, but could also double up as a striker, often clinching crucial points with goals in the dying minutes of a match. Wiltord continued to win, and won the league 3 seasons in a row with Lyon. However, after January 2007, Lyon hit a hard patch, and Wiltord became pegged down as one of the culprits, as his off-pitch activities became slightly bothering: speeding fines that he didn’t pay forced police to question him, and his Brazilian team-mates accused Wiltord of being a touch too “friendly” with their wives.

So, in June, Wiltord announced that he was in negotiations with Rennes, and this summer’s longest transfer saga began. Rennes wanted Lyon to free him of his contract so that he could be signed on a free transfer. Wiltord didn’t want a large pay cut. Lyon didn’t want him to leave for free. And so it all began. Months of negotiations, that ended up in a 1.5 Million € transfer. Quite cheap, if you ask me.

Rennes have now got a great weapon upfront. Wiltord will be able to play alongside Briand and Pagis, or on the wing, or could become a handy sub. Wiltord is back. After 10 seasons away from the Rouge et Noirs, the prodigal son is back. And if his winning steak is anything to go by, it’s good news. Very good news.

Here is a little showcase of his talent :

And his most famous goal :