How do you say “We don’t need you” in swedish?

By: Shazback | January 15th, 2008

Rennes’ Swedish link is something that almost became a tradition. What I mean by “almost” is that after two great players : Källström (now playing for Lyon)and Isaksson (now at Manchester City), there were two not quite so great players that joined : Hansson and Edman.

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.