Paris is perhaps the most productive city for player development in the world. But could you beat one of the richest, most global clubs in football using only players from the City of Lights? Martin Vert has been set that challenge.
Find us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
Yahia Fofana has won Rookie of the Year, known as “Revelation of the Year”, for the second year running. Which is odd, because midway through his second season in Ligue 1, and having won the same award last year, he is neither a rookie nor a revelation. He’s just brilliant. Alongside that, I have been awarded French Manager of the Year, which is nice.
The first piece of January business is the loan signing of Hubert Mbuyi-Muamba from Hoffenheim. Despite his relatively lowly stats, my scouts think he has potential, so it’ll be good to get an up-close look at him. He’ll be a short-term replacement for Mike Cestor, who is leaving us at the end of the month, and then we might seek to extend his stay if he impresses. With his low wages and no loan fee, it’s a low risk move and we will actually be slightly better off, financially, when Cestor leaves.
Alongside the signing, we tie Ousmane Camara down to a new five-year contract. The France U21 international was beginning to draw admiring glances from our rivals, so it’s good to tie him down and I expect his long term future to be here, but with the length of the contract we should also be able to extract a premium price if somebody is determined to take him.
Our first match of the new year is the next round of the Coupe de France. We made it to the semi-finals last year, and I’d love to match that performance if we can, so we need to progress. Sochaux are just outside of the Ligue 2 playoff spots so we should be seeing them off, and I stick with the second string lads with a couple of youngsters thrown in, including Mbuyi-Muamba.
We are very lucky to come away from Sochaux with our reputation intact. Diakhaby scores a lovely goal from the edge of the box early on in his first senior appearance, and I think we might run away with it like we did in the previous round. But our hosts intensify their press and keep us out for the rest of the half, before hitting us from a set piece in the second period. We try to push forward, but the hosts have the momentum and we are, for some reason, weak on our set pieces. A corner deep into injury time is nodded beyond Fofana, and I fear the worst, but it takes just 60 seconds for two more youngsters – Daury and Duhamel – to combine for a late, and undeserved, equaliser. I am confident in the shootout because big Fofana has a great penalty record, and he doesn’t disappoint, saving the first two and setting us up for the win. Phew.
We celebrate the win by sending Diakhaby out on loan to Bolougne. He has a lot of potential and it’s time for him to play some first team football, so we wish him well. We also renew the contract of Garisonne Innocent, who has really impressed in his [checks notes] 0 games for the club. He’s a decent backup, and it’s not his fault that Fofana is a beast, but I keep his wages low anyway.
Our attention turns back to the league next, and a trip to a Lille side who have been underwhelming so far this season. Not that we are going to rest on our laurels. The first choice XI comes back in, and we’ll look to continue our good form.
We start poorly, and Lille are determined in front of their home crowd. Bamba and David, starting on the wings, are dangerous throughout and put us on the back foot, and it’s David who finds the space on 35 minutes to round Fofana and slot home. They push for a second, but we hold until half time and I go ballistic, throwing chairs and bottles and little Bilal Brahimi around the dressing room. It gets the message across, and we’re much better. Before the hour we turn on the style, and Traore crosses to Tattevin who, Sheringham-esque, lays it first time to Mukelenge to equalise. It’s a sublime goal, possibly the best of my tenure, but it’ll no doubt be forgotten against some long range thunderbastard. We continue pushing, and change things up, and it’s the Irishman who deserves all the plaudits for the winner. Farrugia tracks David back, disposses him and charges upfield. He pauses, lays it inside to Barreto and picks up the one-two at the byline, crossing for Fomba to nod home. It’s an important three points, and two very pleasing goals.
It’s a busy week before our next fixture. First we finalise the end-of-season sale of Mamadou Tounkara to promotion-chasing Caen. He was an early Ligue 1 signing, he wasn’t up to scratch, and then he started a dressing room mutiny when he wasn’t playing, so he can piss right off. The rest of the mutineers are out of contract at the end of the season too, so that’s something to look forward to.
The more exciting news is the signing of Igor Basic. The Paris-born Croatian comes in from Brest, where he has been playing for the reserves, and has great physicals as well as not being too far behind our backup winger Thibaut Ehling where it matters technically. One for the future.
And third on the agenda is that Patrice and David have convinced Steve that, really, it’s about time to give me a new contract. It will extend my stay at Red Star until 2029, by which point I hope somebody will have found whatever our home stadium is at that time.
Fourth is the game against Lyon. They sit fourth, just outside the Champions League places, and are probably the second biggest team in France. Meaning that they are dangerous. They will be out for revenge from our winner-takes-all game at the end of last season, and then our late victory back in August. But they are going through a bit of an injury crisis at the moment, with the likes of Jason Denayer, Max Caqueret and Marc Roca all missing out. They have strength in depth, but we’re at full strength and I’d like us to capitalise.
It’s a very even game, but again we are able to nick the result and take the three points home with us. Lyon score early on, a long punt by Lopes dropping to Origi in front of our defence – Massouema having gone for a wander, it seems – and the Belgian drilled home from the edge of the box. But the lead only lasts for six minutes before Traore slides it across to Fomba to power home himself, bringing us level. And then, just before half time, Tattevin holds up a clearance, spins to give himself space, and splits the defence with a pass to Mukelenge, who puts it in off the post. We close up shop in the second half and Fofana doesn’t have much to do as we see the game out.
We finish January with a trip to Rennes, who at first glance look to be having a disappointing season in eighth, but actually it’s so bunched up behind us now that anybody from Nice in third to Metz in 11th have a realistic chance of making it into the top six, while PSG and, remarkably, ourselves, pull away from the pack. In Jeremy Doku they have a magnificent player, but we have magnificent players too.
Arnaud Tattevin is one of those magnificent players, and puts the game beyond Rennes before they’ve even laced their boots up properly. A lovely passing move sees Mukelenge set him free in the box and he fires home early on, before another move allows him to turn on the edge of the area and fire home a superb strike into the top corner. He has chances for his hat trick but can’t take them, but that doesn’t stop Fomba capitalising on a defensive error to blast home. Right on half time, Camara gets too excited and pushes Doku, and Rennes put away a penalty, but it’s a brilliant half of football. I close everything down for the second period, and although Fofana makes a couple of saves they never really threaten, and it’s another three points.
It’s late in the window, but there is still time for a little business. Through the door is Mouhamadou Diop, a promising teenage goalkeeper we’ve been able to prise from PSG. Since the Fofana saga at the start of the season I’ve been trying to future-proof the position, and with the right development Diop could be our future between the sticks.
And that sees the back of January. It’s been a great month, and we are now on a 10-win league run that goes back to October as well as opening up a 12-point lead over third. Continue this into the second half of the season and we can really begin to cement our place as PSG’s main challengers.
We aim to keep this site ad-free. Please help us by donating below.
One thought on “This is Paris: January ’25”
Comments are closed.