Red Bull In Paris : RB Paris

A nice young club

Ah, Red Bull Paris, on FM20 I've played a similar and also have a similar thinking as what is presented in the articles. Although a short stint, I really enjoyed playing as RB Paris manager.

Is there any database for FM21? Just in case I want to play again. It seems that there are no much movement from the players as I see similar names in the initial squad.

Nice story and keep up the good work!

Shame about Pellegri, I've always found him to be a beast on FM but it's his loss!

It seems Evra is facing some troubles after the past couple of really positive seasons. The lack of leadership on the pitch won't be helping that either. This will be a test of his ability as a manager and one I see him getting through just fine.

Ligue 1 will likely continue to be one of the least surprising title chases with one exceedingly dominant team standing over a small handful of challengers who will need a lot of luck to unseat the King. The fight for a Champions League or Europa League spot will likely have more intrigue once again, with RB Paris ruining the party last year there might be more teams vying for those spots than previously thought.

Surprise, PSG are massive favorites to win the league. The Qatari owned club has won five in a row and nine of the last ten, with the way they have been spending it’s hard to see them failing to make it six in a row. PSG would spend €246M this summer to add to a squad that was already big favorites. Gabriel Jesus (€58M - Manchester City), Gerónimo Rulli (€58M - Real Sociedad), Ibrahima Konaté (€48M - RB Liepzig), Raphinha (€48M - Benfica), and Andraz Sporar (€43M - Sporting CP) would all be added while maintaining their previous core. Kylian Mbappé, Neymar, Marquinhos, Mauro Icardi, Fabián, Samuel Umtiti, and Marquinhos Cipriano by themselves made Thomas Tuchel’s side embarrassingly loaded, the German manager might be out of excuses if they can’t win the Champions League after losing to Liverpool in the final last year.

The tier just behind PSG has probably solidified into four clubs; Lyon, Marseille, LOSC Lille, and AS Monaco. RB Paris finishing fourth knocked one of them out of the running, and a poor season knocked another out, but all four have even odds to finish between second and 5th this year.

Lyon are considered the best of the tier, but a 5th place finish last year cost Rudi Garcia his job and first year manager Régis Beunardeau will have his hands full after managing Angers SCO last year. Victor Osimhen makes a return to Ligue 1 in a €55M move from Napoli and gives Beunardeau a clinical finisher on the attack. Houssem Aouar, Evander, and Bruno Guimarães form a very talented midfield with Hakan Çalhanoglu and Viktor Fischer providing the bulk of the attacking talent. The club has yet to find a replacement for Victor Osimhen at striker, but they have enough depth to contend. Marseille finished third last year, a result that got Michael Laudrup fired, with Jean-Louis Garcia taking over this year. The coaching uncertainty knocks them down a bit, though they maintain a very solid group of players in their mid to late 20’s ready to give Lyon trouble. Maxime Lopez, Morgan Sanson, Duje Caleta-Car, Berat Djimsiti, and Andreas Pereira form the core of this team that has fans hopeful of progress in Europe.

After failing to sign Patrice Evra LOSC Lille landed on Filippo Inzaghi, it turned out to be a good hire as the first year manager piloted the team to a second place finish. Most of the squad returns with Boubakary Soumaré, Mykhaylo Mudryk (bought from Lyon), Valentino Lazaro, and the resurgent Renato Sanches forming the core of this frisky squad. If they have any issues it’s youth, but there’s no reason they can’t finish second again. AS Monaco finds themselves on the outside looking in after finishing 9th last year, a position that cost Robert Moreno his job. New manager Niko Kovač will have the pieces to compete, with Alexandr Golovin, Gelson Martins, and Jorge headlining his roster but this might be a tough place to refurbish his reputation after being sacked at Bayern Munich.



Everything between 5th and 1fourth is a muddle, the middle tier of Ligue 1 is hard to distinguish with any number of teams picked to finish from 5th to 1fourth. The bottom is more volatile, with RB Paris still picked to finish in the relegation zone despite finishing fourth in their first season. They share 1000-1 title odds with RC Lens, Dijon FCO, and freshly promoted Sochaux. Just above them is Ligue 2 champion Montpellier (350-1) and Bordeaux (33-1). RB Paris seems to be in better shape than all of these teams aside from Montpellier, who have more financial might to work with, but the oddsmakers are not being kind to Les Taureaux.

Seems very harsh by the betting companies to have RB Paris so far down this season, I could have understood a midtable prediction but relegation from fourth would be an extraordinary fall that I don't see happening.

2021-02-01 22:18#281333 TheLFCFan : Seems very harsh by the betting companies to have RB Paris so far down this season, I could have understood a midtable prediction but relegation from fourth would be an extraordinary fall that I don't see happening.

I agree with this. Don't they know Red Bull gives you wings?

Patrice Evra would open the season facing criticism from fans and the media for selling Lamine Diaby-Fadiga and extending Hoogewerf, and the complaints would only get louder through an uneven August. With the Europa League looming, and continued questions about RB Paris’ true level of play, things were in danger of getting difficult.

An opening scoreless draw with Toulouse FC wouldn’t help things, especially with Greg Docherty being taken off early with a tight hamstring. A 1-0 win over Montpellier would follow, and Evra wouldn’t think twice about taking the points, but many were rightly critical of their failure to convert their chances. Docherty would leave the game early again, this time with a ankle injury, but that didn’t stop RB Paris from totally overwhelming Montpellier. If it’s possible to have a pitiful win this was it, the only goal came from Docherty on a penalty, they were dominant enough to feel that they should have won 5-0 but couldn’t get it done.

“I hear the complaints, the season has just started, we will get into form. I’m not worried.” Evra was nearly curt with reporters after the game, the better the club does the more pressure placed on him and the squad.

A visit from LOSC Lille seemed like terrible timing with many calling out this game as a litmus test for Evra’s credentials. Filippo Inzaghi and Evra are duking it out for the most exciting manager appointment and many painted this game as Inzaghi vs. Evra. Neither manager was interested in the spin, and Inzaghi looked smart to steer clear of it. Inzaghi favors a more passive counter-attack to Evra’s wide attacking game so LOSC Lille ceded possession to RB Paris, holding the ball a miniscule 33%, but giving up a goal to Crisitian Ferreira at 5’ made being passive very difficult. Boubakary Soumaré would even the score at 70’ in exactly the manner LOSC Lille were waiting for, breaking up an RB Paris attack and catching them out of position with a display of ugly defending. Jean Marcelin would turn the table on everyone RB Paris has faced by heading one in at 73’ on a free kick to stun the visitors and finish the game 2-1.

Perhaps it was overconfidence from coming out ahead in the game against LOSC Lille, or perhaps it was traveling to Stade Loius II, whatever it was RB Paris opened their last game of the month by completely falling apart for AS Monaco. Gelson Martins would hammer one in from just inside the box at 13’ before a contested penalty made it 2-0 at 28’. Marko Grujic would make it 3’-0 off a corner and Evra would find himself roaming the sidelines yelling at his team to wake up. Jean Marcelin would score at 35’, almost literally by accident, after Zoltán Tadić headed a corner into Yassine Bounou for a nice save. The deflection would hit Marcelin on the foot and bounce in at the near post, even the silliest of goals still count. Tadić would be involved in the next goal, in a sense, when Jorge leveled him on a corner and Docherty would convert the penalty to close it to 3-2. Niko Kovač would spend the next few minutes giving an official an earful, and it wouldn’t end as the teams went into the locker room for the half. Both managers were able to calm their teams down in the second half, but for RB Paris the damage was done. AS Monaco had outclassed them on the attack as the hosts would walk away with a win.

Shortly after getting dumped by AS Monaco the Europa League draw would be announced. RB Paris would land in a tough Group D with AS Roma, Krasnodar, and AA Gent. The trip to Krasnodar might be as bad as facing AS Roma twice, RB Paris are only expected to avoid being embarrassed. Lyon would end up in Group B with Braga, BATE Borisov, and Slovan Bratislava. They are heavy favorites to win the group and make a deep run in the tournament.

It's been a tough start but grinded out three results so far. Feels like this is the year that Evra shows the last couple haven't been flukes and he's a top quality manager.

With so many Europa League games crammed into the month, thanks to a condensed pre-World Cup schedule, Patrice Evra would need to lean on his two squad approach rather quickly. The loss to AS Monaco at the end of last month wasn’t a great milestone to start throwing inexperienced youngsters into Ligue 1, but if RB Paris were going to put up a fight in Europe they would need to avoid exhausting their starters.

“We brought up Mauro [Amorim] for a reason, we think he is ready to play for us” said Evra when pressed on the fresh faces. “If he isn’t, he will need to get there quickly!”

Luckily for Evra, Amorim would prove to be a sound selection for the second squad striker. Dijon FCO would go down 1-0 in the second squad’s first game, the lone goal coming from Amorim on his senior debut. RB Paris managed their usual game, dominating on the ball and keeping Dijon from getting many chances, but the rust was apparent as the younger players continue to develop a connection.

With that first game out of the way the team would face a brutal run of four games in two weeks that would end with a long trip to Krasnodar. Three Europa League games would be broken up by a trip to AS Saint-Etienne, the team would seem to spend more time on a plane than the training pitch. Things did not start well in RB Paris’ European debut as the team would slog through a tepid game at AA Gent. The team would look lost and lack that spark that has defined Evra’s teams so far, a 0-0 draw would be rescued by Benito at 88’ with a stunning end-to-end run for a 1-0 lead that would hold. Turning a well defended corner into a goal on the other end was just the type of thing the team needed to pull itself out of their funk, but that isn’t the kind of thing Evra could rely on.

That trip to AS Saint-Etienne would start off looking like a disaster with more of the same, Phil Jones would head in a goal on a set piece to give the hosts a 1-0 advantage over the second squad but it would be called offsides. Stéphane Moulin would have quite a bit of shouting to do after the call, but it had no effect on the call. Octávio Martinho would log his first senior goal to take the lead at 88’ and Younes Boussif would show his promise late in stoppage time with a stunning goal from beyond the arc as the hosts tried to push their back line up after clearing the ball right to Boussif.

Evra would look good after trusting his second squad and coming away with six points in Ligue 1, but that wouldn’t make the next two games any easier. A visit from AS Roma would get things going even before the game.

“They are a nice story, this should be an easy win for us.” was the nicest thing Marcelino has to say about RB Paris.

He wasn’t necessarily wrong, as AS Roma should be good enough to win, but his trash talk really fired up the side. Evra’s side ended up making things easy for Marcelino, the playbook on beating RB Paris was widely known and he didn’t hesitate to use it. Andrea Pinamonti would be the focus of their attack which was an obvious Route One assault on RB Paris’ back line, and it worked way too well despite the addition of Jean Marcelin. Pinamonti enjoyed three one-on-one changes generated with long balls down the middle and the third one went in. Marcelino kept it up and Pinamonti got his second just before the half for a 2-0 lead, but Marcelin would spoil it by heading in a corner in stoppage time. The 2-1 score ended up being enough with RB Paris still struggling to contain Pinamonti in the second half, AS Roma settled into a bit of a low block and Cristian Ferreira just couldn’t find a way in.

The sting of that loss would fuel the team on their trip to Krasnodar, but Evra would find himself in a bind when Kemehlo Nguena would be ruled out with a knee injury. With Nguena out, teenager Hans-Günter Reus would get the call, while the team was high on him this would not be an ideal situation for Evra. Reus wouldn’t be the only one to blame, and Evra wouldn’t make excuses afterwards, but the game turned into another tepid outing. RB Paris looked tired and their midfield just wasn’t clicking, things only got worse late in the game when Ferreira went out with a minor injury and the offense looked aimless. A draw wouldn’t be bad at this point, but many thought RB Paris could win this one and put themselves in a solid position to advance from the group stage.

The draw would be disappointing, but at least the team had some serious positives in Ligue 1. They would finish the month 8th in goals scored, with eight in six games, and fourth in goals allowed. Early signs point to a decent season in Ligue 1, but with the World Cup blowing up the end of the year things could be very different in January.

The last full month of regular football would present Patrice Evra with a number of challenges on and off the field, the primary issue would be the Europa League with two tough games on the books. Winning group games would be key with AS Roma waiting for their final game next month, Evra would want to avoid needing a win against them to advance.

The next problem that Evra would need to deal with was the growing discord between Christian Ferreira and Dillon Hoogewerf. The problem would be compounded by the media, with the English press vaguely interested in the performance of Hoogewerf it would turn the minor concern into something Evra would need to address almost weekly. The opening game of the month against Bordeaux would only compound the stress. Kemehlo Nguena would sit out the game in order to recover from a knee injury, putting Hans-Günter in the starting lineup once again. Evra would get Dennis Waidner back, but the key to the game would be Hoogewerf’s understudy Mauro Amorim. It would only take Amorim 12’ to score his second goal of the season, already two more than Hoogewerf, on a well played through ball by Reus where his speed put him in a position to poke the ball past a charging Rémy Descamps. RB Paris would dominate the game despite the use of the second squad, but they would struggle to do much with the advantage. Amorim would score a second at 67’, setting the final score at 2-0, and expanding the Hoogewerf-Amorim debate.

The win, and goals by Amorim, would make the scoreless Hoogewerf look like a frivolous expenditure. During the summer it seemed like a no-brainer signing, but with the poor form between Hoogewerf and Ferreira the fans were starting to pine for Lamine Diaby-Fadiga. Evra would be pressured to swap Hoogewerf for Amorim in the first squad by fans, but he would also be under pressure to give Hoogewerf the starts needed to keep him in Paris. Having Manchester United recall him from loan would be a disaster.

RB Paris’ next challenge before a visit from Krasnodar would be FC Nantes and the second squad’s second start in a row. A loss in the league followed by a loss in their Europa League group would have fans howling, but as luck would have it RB Paris would put together one of their most exciting performances of the season. A 1-0 win, which was an unbelievable score based on how well RB Paris’ youngsters brushed aside their competition, could be seen as a taste of what their youth system could do in the future. RB Paris would take (18) shots and hit the target with (14) of them, with Rasmus Rasmussen scoring the lone goal, they were rather unlucky to finish 1-0 but a win is a win.

The mood created by the win over FC Nantes would carry through most of the game against Krasnodar, Stade Sébastien Charléty would be sold out for the game and despite some of the animosity toward Red Bull most fans would be wearing the RB Paris home whites. Evra’s gamble on scheduling would pay off well and early with the Russian side going down 2-0 by 16’ with Danny Malitoli and Benito scoring. Everything went to plan, they controlled possession and kept Krasnodar on lockdown in their own third and looked to breeze through the game. An ill-advised challenge from Tonny Vilhena gave Greg Docherty a penalty at 56’ and a 3-0 lead seemed to close this game out before old habits came back to haunt Evra. Krasnodar finally got some breathing space later in the game and worked their way into a few set pieces not far outside the box, a dangerous prospect for RB Paris. Kristoffer Olsson, and unlikely hero, would head one in at 76’ and have a second one land in his lap for a messy goal that would go in off Demetre Buliskeria’s elbow. To make things worse Abner Felipe would limp off at 85’ with a tight thigh, with no subs left Evra would need to stomach the final five minutes down a man. By some miracle RB Paris would play well in those final minutes to escape with a 3-2 win.

With the drama of Krasnodar behind them and an important game against AA Gent looming a trip to RC Lens was almost an afterthought, and it showed. The second squad would get another go, but the FC Nantes performance would seem like ancient history as the hosts would shock RB Paris with a 1-0 win. Patrik Hrosovsky would take a horrific penalty attempt, kicking it wide of the post, missing out on taking a 1-0 lead midway through the game. In the end a limp attack and a terrible error by Buliskeria would give away the game.

“I take responsibility for this, we were not mentally prepared for this” said Evra following the loss “our heads were at Gent, I’m to blame.”

Evra’s somber take on the loss would seem to resonate with his squad, the game against AA Gent was an opportunity to clinch a spot in the next round of the Europa League and they jumped at it. Even with Jean Marcelin and Zoltán Tadić suspended on yellows they would cruise to an easy 2-0 victory. Aliou Traoré would score his first goal of the season, a bit of a concern after almost three full months, but the win would overshadow any nitpicking. Even more inspiring would be the second squad’s response to the loss at RC Lens as Angers SCO would be on the wrong end of an angry RB Paris. A 6-0 beating would be highlighted by a Rasmussen hat-trick and Amorim’s fourth of the season.

The good run of form, despite the loss, would see Evra’s side finish fourth in goals scored with the second best defensive record in Ligue 1. More encouraging would be the fourth highest tally of yellows without a single red, the squad is really starting to get better at their aggressive press. There was some laughter from fans when Evra started to introduce mini-ball session to improve tackling, but so far it seems to be working well.

The final two months of 2022 would be a sleepy affair on the field at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar crashed the season. With only a single competitive game on the schedule and no players involved in the World Cup Patrice Evra would be looking forward to using the time to rest and prepare for a dense run of fixtures for the rest of the season. There would be some excitement on the field, but most of the news would come off it.

Their only real game would be billed as a dead rubber, with Marcelino piling on the sentiment, but RB Paris were ready to try and get revenge on AS Roma. A win by three goals or more would win their Europa League group, anything less and they would still advance so this was more about personal pride.

“This isn’t just about the group, this is about showing we belong. We can play in Europe” said team Captain Greg Docherty before the game.

Things wouldn’t be easy for Evra right out of the gate with Benito and Aliou Traoré suspended through yellows. Being without your first choice wingers is not the best way to head into a big game, but the team has shown the ability to work around suspensions. Despite all of the hope Andrea Pinamonti put RB Paris in a 1-0 hole early in the game, the same Route One approach that worked in the first game worked once again with Zoltán Tadić getting caught a step behind him. Needing a 4-1 win really killed the mood for RB Paris at the Olimpico, but they continued to play their game and control the ball. It’s unfortunate that they had the one slip up, though the 1-0 score allowed Marcelino to be even less concerned about the result, after the goal the game was all RB Paris. Things finally broke their way at 82’ when Tadić made up for his mistake with Pinamonti and headed one in on a corner to make it 1-1. RB Paris’ aggressive press and high tempo offense kept AS Roma on their heels and Tadić would head in a second off another corner to stun the hosts 2-1. Marcelino never seemed concerned, the score wouldn’t flip their position in the group, but Evra knew this was an important win for his club.

“We knew we could do this, we are ready to keep fighting” said Evra after the game.

The feel good times of winter ended shortly after the win with a swirl of activity at the club. The first hit to Evra came when Red Bull GmbH pushed through some friendly games, against Evra’s wishes, and put the team on a miniature tour of Italy to help boost their profile. Dates with Bologna and Lazio would irk the manager, he didn’t make any public statements but the fact that he didn’t want the team playing got out.

Possibly worsening Evra’s mood was the use of Kévin Blanc during his loan spell at Troyes. Blanc has been tabbed as the future of LB at RB Paris, but for one reason or another he wasn’t getting the agreed playing time in Ligue 2. The result was Evra recalling the French LB for a shot at a spot on the bench, with LB looking thin things were better off with him back in Paris. More bad news dropped when RB Paris 2 head coach Fabien Valéri suddenly resigned to take the head coach position at Nancy. This was a double blow as Valéri also served as a senior scout, now Evra had two vacancies that needed to be filled quickly. RB Paris ended up hiring Johnathan Charrier to take over RB Paris 2, the French 35-year old gets his first head coaching stint thanks to specializing in the 4-2-3-1 and his level of comfort with youth players.

The trip to Italy, a 5-2 win over Bologna and a 3-2 loss to Lazio, ended up being everything Evra didn’t want. Juninho ended up with a hernia, knocking him out for 2-4 weeks, and Franco injured his ankle against Lazio to rule him out for three weeks. Danny Malitoli would take a knock during the Lazio game, which was blamed for what happened next, and then suffered a sports hernia in training. Crisitian Ferreira would join Malitoli with the physios after pulling a knee ligament in practice, losing Malitoli (4-6 weeks) and Ferreira (2-3 weeks) might be a total nightmare for January. The only good news was Younes Boussif and Mauro Amorim, who scored twice against Bologna, developing a solid partnership up the middle. Those two could form the spine of RB Paris’ roster for years to come.

It would be hard to find anyone outside the most zealous RB Paris fan forums that picked them to finish second on goal differential in their Europa League group. This was Patrice Evra’s first chance to prove himself on the international stage and he did pretty well, most assumed the team was on par with Krasnodar and AA Gent but Evra’s approach put them well above.

The 2-1 win at the Olimpico would be RB Paris’ defining win of the stage, after getting dumped 2-1 at home by AS Roma there seemed to be little chance they could flip the result in Roma. After clinching qualification this game seemed like a dead rubber, with RB Paris needing a big win to take the group most had written them off. The fact that they fell a goal short, and did it all after 82’, makes it even more incredible.

One major concern for Evra heading into the knockout rounds is RB Paris’ forwards failing to score. Of the nine goals scored in Group D four of them were scored by defenders, three of those off corners, and one from a penalty. Evra will need to get more from his forwards if they are going to have a chance at going deeper in the tournament, few are picking them to go much farther but they have shown an ability to surprise when things are going well.

The comedy comes in with the knockout round draw as RB Paris will face Red Bull Salzburg in the first round. This will be the first time RB Paris have faced the Austrian side since Evra’s first game in charge, a 1-0 loss in a friendly, but this is a very different team compared to that Ligue 2 side. RB Paris are slight underdogs, but the game will be at Stade Sébastien Charléty and they have shown the ability to put some serious stress on bigger teams.

The 2022 World Cup, being held during the winter in Qatar, would blow a massive hole in the middle of the season while setting up one of the most demanding fixture crunches in recent memory. Patrice Evra would get a bit of a break with only a single player getting called up, Haytham Al-Louz for Syria, but he will be feeling the pain in January as the league tries to make up for the interruption.

The searing heat and schedule disruption wouldn’t be enough to stop one of the least entertaining finals in years, despite that the Lusail National Stadium would be the stage for history as Portugal would win their first World Cup. A 0-0 draw with Argentina would be settled 3-1 in penalties, an abysmal performance by both sides befitting a game that capped one of the most disruptive tournaments in history.

In a more entertaining game Brazil would dump Spain 3-0 for third place after losing 1-0 to Argentina in the semifinal. Perhaps foreshadowing the final Spain would be outlasted by Portugal 2-1 in extra time in their semifinal. Two Brazilians would highlight the tournament as Vinícius Júnior would take home the Golden Boot with (5) goals and Casemiro would capture the Best Player award.


The French national team, after a poor showing, would see some internal chaos with Christophe Pélissier stepping down immediately after the tournament. Pélissier took over the team from Didier Deschamps after the 2020 Euro and had a contract running through the 2024 tournament, his resignation leaves the team grasping for a new manager.

The January transfer window held few surprises with some of the moves being made out in the news weeks ahead. Beating off bidders for their young talent did turn into a second job for Thomas Linke, but at least it’s a good sign that RB Paris are starting to develop the talent they need to compete and turn a hefty profit on the market.

The first person out the door the moment the window opened was CB Haytham Al-Louz who was upset he wasn’t sold in the summer despite rejecting a contract offer from AA Gent. Inside sources report that RB Paris tried offering him a new contract but his salary demands were too high for a backup centerback who wasn’t turning out to be the best in his role. Rejected AA Gent ended up costing RB Paris €6M as Panaitolikos would take the CB for €5M. With all of the issues around Al-Louz the team had moved quickly to replace him and agreed to purchase Bruno Rodrigues from Braga in November. Scouts spent quite some time watching him so the team was very happy to have an upgrade to Al-Louz even if he wasn’t sold.

The jig was also up at LB with RB Paris scouts seen looking at wing-backs all year. It’s no secret at Abner Felipe is looking for a new contract with his deal expiring after next season, there has been no news of a new one in the pipeline so it’s likely they will sell him or let him walk. There are rumors around the club that they are hoping Kévin Blanc, who’s currently on loan at Troyes, might be ready to play next season. Florent Hanin is 32-years old and his contract expires as the end of the season, so Evra is looking at having no LB on the senior squad. One thing they did to address the issue is sign Leandro Dias from Porto, he is currently on loan at OHL and cannot move this season since he’s played for both teams. Bringing in Dias during the summer will at least protect the team from fielding an empty spot at LB, but it’s likely that they may move for a bigger name in the summer.

The January window is usually the time for ill-advised offers and this one had a bunch of them. Tottenham lodged a €2M bid for Youssef Camara that was rapidly rejected but still managed to unsettle the midfielder. Camara demanded to leave, but with a deal through 2026 he didn’t have much say. When Tottenham came back at €9M it made things even harder but RB Paris stood firm.

Things really got out of hand with Malitoli as the vultures started to descend. Bayer 04 Leverkusen (€17M), Bayern Munich (€17M), and Atletico Madrid (€26.5M) got in on the action and made the club think very hard about keeping their star RB. Bayern Munich took ‘no’ to mean ‘pay more’ and closed it out with a €29.5M bid that fell on deaf ears.

“We make it a policy not to discuss transfer rumors, I’m sorry. We aren’t selling anyone we don’t want to sell” was all Evra had to offer on the matter.

Including the summer this window closed out with €19M in income, a new club record. This is likely the reason so many players have been demanding new deals despite just joining the club. Benito and Greg Docherty are the loudest and most aggressive voices with reports having them requesting double their current salary, reports also show that the club isn’t going to meet their demands.

Senior / Major Transfers (Out)
Haytham Al-Louz (CB, Panaitolikos) €5M

Senior Transfers (In)
Bruno Rodrigues (CB, Braga) €2.4M
Leandro Dias (LB, Porto) €1.1M

Final Transfer List (Impact Signings)
Argélico (RW, Grêmio - Brazil) €3.7M
Max Laurent (RW, AJ Auxerre - France) €525K
Richard Bessières (CM, ASEC Mimosas - Ivory Coast) €Free

A short list of youth players that might just be punching well above its weight. Two players, Argélico and Richard Bessières, could be playing for the senior team before anyone knows it. According to the coaching staff the only reason they paid so much for Argélico is that they view him as a ready made bench option with backup upside. He’s already started a few times for Grêmio so the club is comfortable that he’s ready to contribute.