Red Bull In Paris : RB Paris

With only eight games left in the season and two very difficult opponents (AS Monaco & LOSC Lille) left Patrice Evra would need everything to fall into place to finish strong. With the team closer to the Champions League than relegation the pressure would be off, but there was no way the team was going to give up.

“We are safe, but we aren’t done.” said Evra when asked about the team’s potential spot in the final standings “We are going to fight until the end, and if we don’t do as well as we hoped we will do it next year.”

AS Monaco opened the month with a gut punch to those Champions League dreams with a 4-1 loss. Aliou Traoré had a terrible game, some members of the media joked that he wasn’t even in the game, vanishing on the left and missing a sitter down 3-0. This wasn’t Traoré’s fault as the team imploded all over the field, a 62-38 possession advantage meant nothing as AS Monaco seemed to score at will. After the game RB Paris would announce that Traoré has suffered a sports hernia, they wouldn’t say if it happened during the game, and he would be out for five weeks.

After getting handled like that it would have been easy for the squad to fold, but Evra managed to turn things around and turn in a win streak to keep them afloat. Rennes (1-0), Brest (2-1), and Nîmes (3-0) would all fall to a motivated squad and put the club into Champions League qualification. Tied on points with Marseille, but saved by a +1 advantage on goal differential, the last few game would be critical. Even if they dropped out of the Champions League, barring a four game losing streak, a spot in Europe seemed like a near lock.

The final month of the season would give Patrice Evra a solid list of issues the team would need to address during the offseason. While sports hernias were high on his list, either from lack of fitness or overworking the players, they would need to invest some serious time into curtailing those injuries. Evra is known for running hard practices, often noted for being twice as intense as other clubs, nobody feels that is the source of the injuries.

The big game of the month would be first, a visit from LOSC Lille would pit them against another team fighting for a Champions League slot. A win would be huge, a “six-pointer” to some, and a loss would open them up to Marseille and Lyon passing them in the standings. Filippo Inzaghi would have the playbook on Evra’s tactics nailed, an approach most would expect from an Italian, and route one football was on order today. Timothy Weah would get the start as the lone striker in a 4-1-4-1 and have the time of his life with RB Paris’ fragile back like. The sides would trade goals within five minutes of each other, Weah at 19’ and Morgan Guilavogui at 24’, before Weah would make Haytham Al-Louz look like a cardboard cutout. At 43’ a loss of possession in LOSC Lille’s third would quickly end up in a one-on-one with Weah leaving Al-Louz in his wake and Demetre Buliskeria scolding the central defender for leaving him so much space. With a 2-1 lead Inzaghi was happy turning that 4-1-4-1 into what looked like a 5-4-1 that would stop anything up the middle and make playing wide much harder. The last fifteen minutes of this game would make sitting through LOSC Lille parking the bus worth it, RB Paris would finally break the low block with a Conrad Wallem goal and Diego Raposo would rush around the right edge and deliver a hard shass across the goal the would miss wide left but hit a pile of bodies at the far post. Wallem, amid three defenders and the approaching Kristoffer Klaesson, would somehow manage to get his foot on the ball and level the game 2-2. With a point in sight, and stoppage approaching, a turnover in LOSC Lille’s third would give Al-Louz déjà vu and Weah a hat trick. A furious attack would finally get a break with Diego Raposo heading in a leveler at 90+4’ and summon Evra and Inzaghi from the technical area when the flag would go up. Both managers would miss the final whistle as they argued with officials, but nothing changed and LOSC Lille would walk out winners with second place in hand.

A trip to Strasbourg would show that the loss to LOSC Lille was still hurting, Evra would need to leave RB Marcel Lavinier at home after a thigh strain the day before would rule him out for four weeks. As it turned out the injury would be the least of his issues as RB Paris would struggle against an odd 4-2-4 formation that played a little more like a 6-0-4 at times and gave them issues out wide. Guilavogui would score at 15’ but the hosts would end up playing rather well and holding it at 1-0 while matching RB Paris shot for shot. Another issue for Evra to work on would pop up in this one; choking late. At 87’ Nordine Kandil would score in the middle of three RB Paris defenders and cost Evra two desperately needed points.

“That was hard to take,” admitted Evra after the game “to fall apart like that, I blame myself. I need to find a solution, these are killing us much like reds.”

The loss would put RB Paris is a position where the RC Lens game would be critical. Anything other than a loss would clinch a spot in Europe, four points clear of Toulouse FC in 6th and five ahead of FC Nantes in 7th with a substantial goal differential on both would widen the margin for error. RC Lens would spot Evra two goals within 16’ to make things much easier, even a 42’ goal from Fodé Ballo-Touré didn’t seem too threatening. Then two of Evra’s biggest issues combined to make things harder as late game fatigue and route one football would give RC Lens an equalizer at 78’. A 64-36 possession advantage would vanish instantly and Evra would find himself in a bind. An 84’ Kemehlo Nguena goal off an Abner Felipe cross would save Evra late and Strasbourg’s attack wouldn’t have an answer, a spot in Europe was theirs.

The final game of the season against Amiens SC would essentially be a dead rubber. With Marseille three points ahead and three up on goal differential it was highly unlikely they could slip into third. It only made things worse when RB Paris took a 0-0 draw into the half and news that Marseille were up 4-0 on OGC Nice made it to the locker room, it would take a miracle to jump them now. Despite the letdown RB Paris would net two late in the second to close out the season with a win. Finishing fourth was so far beyond what anyone expected that even a loss couldn’t ruin this season.

If Patrice Evra has managed to do anything more impressive than qualifying for the Europa League it’s probably doing it with a very balanced group of contributors. The team lacked a dominant scorer, which might have seemed like a death blow before the season started, but it didn’t seem to matter with so many players scoring. The high level of play that Evra was able to get out of his squad also shows in the number of players that managed to rate 7.00 or higher, the ones that didn’t make the cut were rather close so there weren’t many glaring weaknesses from week to week.


If Anthony Maisonnal was hoping for a way back into the squad, Demetre Buliskeria slammed the door shut and looks to be one of Evra’s best signings. The Georgian keeper looked like a bargain all season and the club will not need to spend any time looking for a Ligue 1 quality goalkeeper for the near future, great news for a team about to be thrown into Europe.

It’s hard to find one stand out on the team just by goals or assists, three players ended on eight goals (Lamine Diaby-Fadiga, Morgan Guilavogui, and Aliou Traoré) and two players (Cristian Ferreira and Danny Malitoli) stood out in terms of assists. Sadly, one of the best players was Hannibal Mejbri, set to return to Manchester United, but the player who garnered the most praise was likely Malitolu. The Zambian right wingback was excellent on defense and going forward, a number of his team leading seven assists found Traoré on the back post and at nineteen he figures to have a long fruitful career ahead of him. Malitoli looks to have stolen the limelight from João Paulo as the future of RB Paris, but the club is going to need more than just a world class wingback if they plan on staying near the top of the Ligue 1 table.

If last season was a surprise this season was mind-blowing. Going from champions of Ligue 2 to 4th in Ligue 1 after a single season is so far beyond what anyone had predicted, it’s left everyone speechless.

“On some level, I’m speechless. I think the team is still trying to comprehend what we were able to do” said Patrice Evra after their final game of the season.

Being projected for relegation, being asked to do their best to avoid it, and instead earning a spot in the Europa League has hit fast forward on a number of Red Bull Paris’ plans. They still have so far to go but will need to focus on staying where they are right now, or even staying close. Keeping the team mid-table while the club can stabilize is probably a more realistic goal for the time being and it will be difficult to predict the impact of the Europa League on next season.

“Red Bull GmbH are very proud of what Red Bull Paris was able to achieve, club ownership is committed to building on this success and creating a platform for future growth and development” read part of a statement released by President Oliver Mintzlaff.

Red Bull GmbH have certainly followed up on that statement following the close of the season. The club announced efforts to improve youth recruiting, a €2.1M investment in training facilities, €2.3M in youth facilities, and an increase in scouting budgets along with an additional scout. All of that was paired with a relatively massive increase in transfer funds, reported to be €19.5M from €1.4M the year before, and an additional €50K a week for payroll. Free transfers may no longer be their primary source of signings, but the club will need to be careful not to pull a Leeds.

A gutting way to end the season, but turning the draw into a win and loss into a point would have been a Champions League spot. But nonetheless a great season to get a top four spot with limited resources compared to some clubs in the league. Goof to see that has been rewarded by the board, with improvement in both facilities and transfer budget.

2021-01-17 22:20#280898 TheLFCFan : A gutting way to end the season, but turning the draw into a win and loss into a point would have been a Champions League spot. But nonetheless a great season to get a top four spot with limited resources compared to some clubs in the league. Goof to see that has been rewarded by the board, with improvement in both facilities and transfer budget.

The best part of this save is that the board is going out of their minds, I've been sitting on an A grade almost all season. Turns out Europa League is better than "fight bravely against relegation."

L’Equipe’s Francois-Guillaume Lemouton (through France Football) sat down with Red Bull Paris’ Patrice Evra to discuss the conclusion of his first season in Ligue 1 and qualifying for the Europa League.

RB Paris was picked for relegation prior to the start of the season, but you smashed expectations and finished in the Europa League. Do you feel you overperformed, or do you think this is an accurate reflection of your level?

That’s a tricky question, we definitely went beyond what was expected of us. We knew we weren’t getting relegated, we know we are good enough for the league, we belong. The club was more focused on doing our best to stay up, anything above getting relegated is a win for the plan we have. Now, getting into Europe, that was a surprise for us as well. We focus on each game as they come, and we just kept winning, kept making it hard for the bigger teams, and when we looked back we said ‘wow, we won all those games?’ and it was kind of incredible.

Do you think you will be able to handle Ligue 1 and the Europa League next year? It’s a common pitfall for some teams, will you place importance on one over the other?

Yes, I have been working hard with management to build the kind of team that can get us through a season without going to our reserves too much. Injuries happen, but I think if we can set up our roster in the right way we will have the right approach. Of course we would love to win in Europe, but the league is our focus. It’s no good to say, make the knockout round but get relegated. Staying in Ligue 1 is our current priority, maybe as we move forward we can shoot for a deep run but I’m not going to be upset if we struggle outside of France.

How has your relationship changed with Red Bull since you were hired? How do you feel about the changes to the club structure and their commitment to investing in the team?

It’s been great, it’s really improved. I think they see how I’m getting things done on the field, how we have a unified vision on tactics, and we both trust each other even more than when we started. I’ve been working with Thomas [Linke], Alain [Ravera], and Morgan [Boullier] a lot and I trust their assessments, how players fit into the club, and so far it’s worked very well. We each have our roles, and my role is primarily what goes on the field, and they all support my ability to do that.


You have been purchasing quite a few youth players, do you see most of them contributing to the senior squad? A club of RB Paris’ size is going to need to sell players to really make money, does this concern you? Are you worried about being considered a feeder club?

That is just reality, how the game works now. I know there is an economy within the game, and unless I’m at the very top of the game, at Manchester United or Real Madrid, that’s how it is. Teams with money buy players from teams that need to sell, I would be a fool to deny that. All I can focus on is who’s on my team, who can play, if a youth player can play I’m going to see what he can do. I’m always open to bringing players in, bringing them off the bench or giving them a start in a cup game. We want to bring players along, I like to talk to people about how things get done, like at Dortmund. Bringing youth players into the fold, pushing them, instead of just dropping the weight of the world on them. What people call us is of no concern to me as long as we win, you can make the argument that all clubs outside of the very richest are feeder clubs. It doesn’t bother me.

I have to ask, the rumors are hard to ignore, have you changed any of your career plans? How do you envision your future? Marseille and Lille approached you prior to the season and Rudi Garcia has been let go at Lyon. Many have you as the favorite for the position, how are you dealing with the rumors?

The requests were surprising, I have to say. Just one season and here come some big job offers, it was too much too soon. I like the situation we have here, there is still plenty to learn, then maybe I’ll reconsider. I still have some time on my contract and I love what we are doing here, working with Red Bull, it’s exciting to really build something. My thoughts go to Rudi, he’s a great manager and he’s done well at Lyon, but I haven’t been following openings. I’m focused on Paris, not what other jobs I might be asked to talk about.

Is there such a thing as too much of a good thing? When that thing is money the answer is probably ‘no’, at least it is for RB Paris. In the grand scheme of the football economy the sums are small, but for a team that was living off free transfers and struggling to get more than a few thousand spectators into a stadium built for 20,000 they are suddenly awash in cash. RB Paris claimed €185K in prize money from their last season in Ligue 2, the amount awarded for finishing fourth in Ligue 1 was just under €13M. Patrice Evra isn’t about to go spending all of this on new players just yet, though the team will be able to aim a little higher on the youth prospects they bring in.

The success on the field helped to draw out the drama off the field as Lyon announced the firing of Rudi Garcia after rumors of his sacking were floating around the media for weeks. Once it finally came there were reports that Lyon’s primary target was Evra, and the RB Paris manager confirmed that they had approached him.

“Yes, Lyon approached me but I declined. I’m flattered that teams are interested, but like I’ve said before I don’t think it’s the right time.”

Two seasons isn’t quite enough to judge Evra yet, but the early results have been astounding. Red Bull GmbH took a risk handing their newest asset over to the first time manager and their faith has been rewarded. The club is still working hard to catch up with the competition, RB Paris continues to be under budget issues until they can establish themselves in Ligue 1, so there may be some lag as the infrastructure comes online.

Even after finishing fourth the club is being very cautious about their expectations. The club has said they plan on avoiding relegation while they want the team to try their best in the Europa League. Evra will need to find a balance between the two with staying up the primary concern.

Red Bull gives you.... job offers?

Evra's work at RB Paris is being noticed and rightly so, although I think it'll take a mighty rise in quality of club for Evra to jump ship just yet.

RB Paris has remained fairly simple through the first two seasons with little variation if any between the home and away kit. This year the team finally made a change with the away kit along with the third. Modest increases in commercial income still haven’t knocked the Red Bull logo off their kit, but few think it ever will.


Nike has stayed within the Red Bull palette, this time going with a design that some are calling “Sugarfree” thanks to the change in blue. The gold third kit will likely only be used in the Europa League when they won’t be able to wear their home whites, last season the team wore white in all but six of their games.

Some nice changes to the kits ahead of an exciting season to come.

Tough contract calls, thanks to some youth prospects that need to be brought into the senior squad, have cleared out the roster a bit. Said Arab and Ousmane Kanté don’t get renewed, but Ousmane Kanté was planning on retirement and didn’t play at all for Evra last year. RB Thibault Campanini and CB Youssoupha Ndiaye didn’t figure into the squad either so they were let go as well.

All of the movement resulted in RB Paris shattering a number of transfer records, or at least coming close to some, as players were sold off quickly to make room for younger players with a higher ceiling. The start of the window was very tense when Hertha Berlin dropped a €29M offer for Danny Malitoli, while that would be a new record for the club he just signed a new deal through 2026 and the club isn’t interested in losing one of their best players. Denizlispor also did their best to make a mess, offering €165K for Kemehlo Nguena and inciting him to demand a move. They would come back at €215K but there was no way Evra would sanction a move for their backup BBM with nobody else on the roster who could fill that role and no time to find a new one.

Once a number of sales were out of the way Thomas Linke set about some big additions. The biggest snag was CB Jean Harrison Marcelin from AS Monaco, a tall natural ball playing defender who would pair well with João Paulo to help with the leaking back line. He would be relatively cheap, the highest paid for a player under Evra, but he would come with a whopping €22.5K a week salary that would more than double anyone else on the team. It would be worth it though, a 6’-6” tall central defender with good pace could solve so many problems. If he helps cut set piece goals in half it would make him worth every bit of his salary.

The next big bet would be on a young Serbian CB, Zoltán Tadić, who looks ready to get a shot at senior football. He would come close to Marcelin in fee but Linke would have some room to gamble and Evra would need the extra defensive depth to survive Europe. The addition of Benfica’s young wing-back Franco would also be a boon to Evra’s attempts to make it through a long season. The young Brazilian can play both sides of the field and could be an invaluable bench option with everyone playing more games and getting tired faster. CM Hans-Günter Reus would serve a similar purpose, being able to play both midfield roles in the double-pivot, with some room to grow coming off the bench. €1.5M was a small price to pay to provide cover for some of Evra’s most important players.

With all of the buying behind them RB Paris was looking to cruise into the season without any additional issues, but João Paulo had a different idea. With barely any time left before the start of the season he would inform the coaching staff that it was time for him to move to a bigger club. Evra reportedly had a meeting with him and Linke to discuss options but he was set on leaving, with Marcelin and Tadić on board they were more open to cashing in. With João Paulo the first team central defensive pairing would be a total rebuild, Marcelin would be joined by someone out of the Pierluigi Pinto / Haytham Al-Louz / Tadić group. The trouble would be the total lack of anyone outside the senior squad able to help with the situation, things could get bad with even one serious injury.

It looked like the worst had passed before a number of teams made some crazy last ditch efforts to sign Al-Louz, and one of them succeeded. Marseille opened at €2.2M, which was rejected, before coming back at €2.4M and then €4.2M when that was also rejected. With João Paulo there was no way Evra was going to sanction this sale, so when AA Gent lodged an €11M bid that could be worth up to €16M the board went over his head and agreed to the sale. Inside sources say that Evra and Linke were not happy about this at all and things might have escalated if Al-Louz hadn’t rejected their contract offer.

The €14M in transfer income would be a new team record, to think it could have been even higher did not make Evra happy. He declined to publicly comment on the situation.

Senior / Major Transfers (Out)
João Paulo (CB, Porto) €7.7M
Axel Bamba (CB, Montpellier) €3.8M
Conrad Wallem (LW, Zulte Waregem) €1.2M
Manu Fuster (CAM, Troyes) €350M
David Faupala (CF, Valenciennes) €275M
Morgan Guilavogui (RW, OFI Crete) €190K
Marcel Lavinier (RB, Salernitana) €145K
Lamine Diaby-Fadiga (CF, USL Dunkerque) €72K

Senior Transfers (In)
Jean Harrison Marcelin (CB, AS Monaco) €5.5M
Zoltán Tadić (CB, Partizan Belgrade - Serbia) €4.5M
Franco (RB, Benfica - Brazil) €1.6M
Hans-Günter Reus (CM, Basel - Switzerland) €1.5M

Final Transfer List (Impact Signings)
Luyolo Tambo (CB, Kaizer Chiefs - Namibia) €575K
Unai Martín (RB, Sestao - Spain) €200K
Bahtiyar Çavuşoğlu (GK, Galatasaray - Turkey) €160K
Juninho (CAM, Barcelona - Brazil) €155K
Oumar Traoré (CM, Salitas FC - Burkina Faso) €105K
Aubert Saint-Benoît (GK, Red Star FC - France) €45K
Dalibor Uzelac (LB, Nunawading City FC - Croatia) €3.1K
Rauf Äliyev (RB, Free Agent - Azerbaijan) Free
Dragan Jovetić (CF, E.I. San Martín - Montenegro) Free
Thomas Dann (CAM, AKA Vorarlberg - Austria) Free
Jacob Demmer (CM, AKA Burgenland - Austria) Free

The affiliation with Red Bull Salzburg appears to have paid off quite a bit this summer. While scouting the Austrian side RB Paris scouts took some time to look at a few other Austrian teams and managed to dig up a few gems in Thomas Dann and Jacob Demmer at AKA Vorarlberg, the fact they were able to sign them for free made it even better. RB Paris coaches think these two are Ligue 1 players with “five star” potential. The more immediate wins are CB Luyolo Tambo and CAM Juninho, even with the prices paid, both look to be very close to the senior squad and could win a spot on the bench. Juninho, blocked at Barcelona, could be an excellent long term prospect for RB Paris. The last big signing, who some feel could be even better than Dann and Demmer, is striker Dragan Jovetić. Jovetić is quick and tall, 6’-0”, with a growing ability as a clinical finisher. A few coaches have tried to force the comparison to Erling Haaland but he has a long way to go before matching that level, either way he was free so there is little financial risk.

Rennes, in the Bretagne region of western France, would host RB Paris’ training camp this year. Despite being provided with options to go abroad Evra decided to remain close to home. There were some fan powered conspiracy theories that they picked Rennes so they could scout Stade Rennais / Rennes more easily, but in reality it’s probably just a great place to have training camp.

One of the biggest issues Patrice Evra needed to deal with was the striker situation, after a poor season and a contract dispute the club quietly sold off Ligue 2 scoring champion Lamine Diaby-Fadiga while extending Manchester United’s Dillon Hoogewerf. Evra was very happy to bring Hoogewerf back, but now the club has a serious depth issue at striker with only youngster Mauro Amorim considered an option.

“We are excited to bring back Dillon on a season long loan, he’s an excellent player and we feel he will help us while some of our players develop” said Evra at the opening of camp.

This may be a calculated risk with scoring coming from the wings, but a bad run from Hoogewerf or Amorim could leave Evra in a bad place. Speaking of bad places, highly touted youngster Youssouf Camara would break his leg on the first day of practice. He was slated to compete for the backup deep lying playmaker position, losing him for at least two months would make things very hard for the squad. On top of that, with coaches still trying to cope with seeing Camara taken off on a stretcher, Greg Docherty would be knocked out for three weeks with a sprained ankle on the same day.

Their first game would be against fellow Red Bull affiliate RB Leipzig and it would take an 87’ header by Haytham Al-Louz, on as a sub at 75’, to level the score at 1-1. Julian Nagelmann’s side would look a bit rusty, getting outshot by RB Paris, but the early goal would make things easier on them. After the game Evra would be hit by further problems, losing Amorim to a sports hernia for up to five weeks. With Amorim basically out for the entire preseason, RB Paris was down to a single viable striker. RB Paris 2 mainstay Marcel David would get called up, but he would count as more of a warm body than a backup.

Reports leaked rather quickly that RB Paris were on the hunt for a striker, Amorim’s injury hit fast forward on the search to replace Hoogewerf when his loan ends. There is no way RB Paris could make the move permanent, but a window opened for them to find a potentially comparable talent for free. AS Monaco, who once paid €25M for him, released Pietro Pellegri after a disappointing run at the club that was ruined by injuries. Pellegri was once hailed as the ‘Next Messi’ but instead found himself in injury hell at AS Monaco, only making six appearances for them from the 2017/18 season until 2020/21 when he was able to come back in a limited capacity. He never took off, but many believe the talent is still there and worth the risk. Inside sources report that Pellegri and his agent met with Linke, but the stumbling block was an absolutely massive salary demand that the club wasn’t willing to meet. The feeling at the club is that if they could finish fourth with an out-of-form Diaby-Fadiga they could manage with Hoogewerf and Amorim.



All of the stress surrounding injuries rolled into a few limp performances where the club didn’t look as spirited as last offseason. A 2-2 draw with Marseille saw them score soon after a late penalty put them down 2-1, and a 1-1 draw with Napoli saw them dominate the Serie A side with possession but fail to capitalize on it. They would be able to shock Manchester United 3-0 thanks to two early goals at 7’ and 9’, but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s passive counter-attacking approach has seen the giant struggle to finish near the top of the Premier League.

The excitement over beating a big club would vanish quickly, Aliou Traoré would pull a hamstring after the United game and be ruled out for two weeks. More concerning would be Dennis Waidner suffering a lower back stress fracture in practice. The injury would keep him out up to seven weeks with Evra probably taking extra time to be safe, he would need everyone healthy if they were going to get through this season.

Patrice Evra has had to deal with quite a bit of roster churn with most of the Ligue 2 roster being replaced with younger players that have a better shot of being the future of the club. A few hold outs, mainly Cristian Ferreira, show how good some of those signings were. The biggest loss was João Paulo, who’s impact on the field was undeniable, but there are rumors of concerns about his place at the club. Some felt he had “no influence” within his mentoring group and continued to be a little detached from the team, his tendency to argue with officials was also starting to chafe. The fact that he was sold despite his level of skill wasn’t a total surprise within the club, inside sources say that management wasn’t happy about a player with no interest in mentoring (or being mentored) who spent more time on instagram complaining than he did trying to be part of the “family” atmosphere at the club.


Evra has found himself picking a best of the worst in the captaincy hunt, selecting Greg Docherty with Florent Hanin as the Vice Captain. The team is starting to have a real lack of leadership among the players, nobody on the squad can really be called a team leader. Hanin and Ferreira are probably the most influential, but Hanin is on his way out and Ferreira’s contract is set to expire with no renewal being offered. The older players feel a little more like hired guns, Evra will need to work on getting some of the younger players to step up in the future. The hopes are that someone out of the Danny Malitoli, Jean Marcelin, or Demetre Buliskeria group will fill that role sooner than later.

After a very solid first season Buliskeria is the only senior GK on the roster. The club is in dire straits if he gets injured, nobody at the club is even close to ready to stand in and this could be one of Evra’s biggest failings. It seems incredible to think Buliskeria is slated to start every single game, but this is the result of feeling that Anthony Maisonnal wasn’t good enough to extend.

Defensively, the squad could actually be much improved down the middle. Zoltán Tadić is actually looking like an incredible signing after his preseason showings, working together with Marcelin should shore up most of their issues with balls being played deep over their heads. Having a 6’-6” and a 6’-2” pairing in the middle might also help cut down on those set piece goals, but it likely won’t solve the issue completely. Pierluigi Pinto and the disgruntled Haytham Al-Louz remain solid backup options, but most think Al-Louz will be gone at the January window.

Midfield, central and wide attackers, will be the stage for a youth movement as RB Paris tries to convert youth prospects into young stars. Diego Raposo (deep lying playmaker) and Docherty (box to box midfielder) are locked in as starters with Kemehlo Nguena a default backup as one of the few players who can handle the BBM role. Youssouf Camara, when he returns from injury, will be Raposo’s backup and the player tipped to be a future star in Paris. Hans-Günter Reus, who was purchased for quite a bit from Basel despite having no senior experience, is being thrown in the deep end of the pool as a backup BBM option who can also handle DLP where he’s much more comfortable. Reus will likely be a bench option until he can show that he’s ready, but the coaching staff believes in him. Ferreira is the starting CAM with another player the club is in love with, Younes Boussif, backing him up. If you want to see RB Paris coaches fight just ask who they think will be better between Camara and Boussif, get ready for a spirited response. Juninho will get a shot off the bench but won’t hesitate to take Boussif’s spot if he struggles.

Aliou Traoré and Benito are back as the left and right wingers, the real experiment in player development is going on behind them. Pablo Sultuane and Octávio Martinho were given a shot to win the backup LW spot with Sultuane coming out slightly ahead, both look very talented with Martinho definitely earning a spot on the bench. Rasmus Rasmussen will back up Benito on the right, he has coaches excited about his potential.

Dillon Hoogewerf is the lone striker for the season, and will continue to be first choice, until Mauro Amorim is fit to play.