Loïc Tanzi reports tonight that Middlesbrough have this evening reached an agreement to sign Rennes midfielder James Léa-Siliki.

The 25-year-old will join the Championship side on loan with a permanent option.

Léa-Siliki has been at Rennes since 2017, having joined from fellow Brittany club Guingamp in 2014, and has been a Cameroon international since this summer after initially playing for the French youth teams.

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As reported by Foot Mercato, Ligue 1 outfit Reims have received approaches in recent hours for 21-year-old winger Alexis Flips.

Championship club Bournemouth and Spanish outfit Deportivo Alavès have both made enquiries over the possibility of a loan with option to buy deal. SDR are unlikely to bite, as Oscar Garcia views the talent as an important element in his squad going forward.

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Flips came on as a substitute last night during Reims’ 2-0 loss to PSG in a game that saw Lionel Messi take his first steps in Ligue 1.

Speaking as a pundit on RMC Sport yesterday, former Lyon and Marseille goalkeeper Pascal Olmeta lamented the physical shape of Paris Saint-Germain forward Neymar on his return from holidays, insisting that the Brazilian needed to improve his discipline.

“It’s not normal. He’s not your average player. Even amateurs have that desire to attack the match when they come back from their holiday. Who is he kidding? You play for Paris Saint-Germain, you’re one of the best players in the world, you need to have an exemplary image.”

“You keep a low profile, you come back, and then we see your abs. But what are we seeing with him? We saw a little piglet, that just won’t do it. You can’t tell me he played well!”

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“If I’m the manager, and I don’t know if I’d be allowed to talk with him or what will happen, but I’d call him up to my office. If I’m captain, I’ll take him to one side and speak to him. You can’t count on a player that messes around. It’s impossible, or there’s no-one around to tell him what to do. He was gasping, we all saw it. Even kids are now seeing this player differently and that annoys me, because he’s an extraordinary player. But when you want to win something, you need to be exemplary.”

PSG have the third costliest squad in Europe according to the CIES Football Observatory’s yearly report on transfer fees spent by clubs to assemble their current group of players.

Paris have spent €939m in transfers, including bonuses, to build their current squad, a total that has risen by €51m since this time last year. Both Manchester clubs continue to lead the way as the only two teams to surpass €1bn expenditure to build their current squads with Manchester City top of the table with €1080m and United second on €1023m. The gap between the two English sides, however, shrunk by €140m in the last year.

Monaco remain second in France with a squad costing €326m in transfer fees while Rennes have jumped to third (€216m) after a busy summer of transfer business, leap-frogging Lyon, Marseille and champions Lille. Promoted Clermont’s squad remains the cheapest by some distance with less than €10m spent on current players, a total that is less than half that of Metz, the team above them in the rankings. 

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Ouest-France report tonight that Saïd Chabane appeared this afternoon before the examining magistrate in charge of processing the case surrounding allegations of sexual assault, for which the Angers president has been under investigation since February 2020.

Further testimonies from two other women have now taken the alleged number of victims to six, and opened another two investigations against Chabane. Although the two women have not press charges, the judge in charge of the case has nonetheless decided to open the additional investigations. Four complaints had been filed as part of the investigations already carried out by judiciary police.

The two women are said to have worked for Chabane – although not at Angers – and the events took place five years ago, when they were 27 and 30 respectively. The club president’s entourage has confirmed that he had been formally summoned today and that the interrogation lasted 15 minutes, adding that no additional charges had been filed. Chabane will “explain himself on the facts during a further interrogation”.

The 56-year-old had been the subject of a formal complaint in January 2020, from a woman accusing him of sexual assault, with the alleged events taking place in November 2019. The Angers public prosecutor then opened a preliminary investigation, leading to another two testimonies and two new women lodging a complaint. Chabane had then been taken into police custory on February 5, 2020, during which a fourth complaint was filed.

The first women who pressed charges were former employees of Angers, aged between 25 and 30, with the events detailed allegedly taking place between 2015 and 2019. The plaintiffs have described instances of inappropriate touching and rubbing against them, involving “intimidating” scenes, as reported by Ouest-France.

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Speaking ahead of his Monaco side’s trip to Clermont tomorrow, manager Niko Kovač highlighted the insults that had been aimed at goalkeeper Alexander Nübel by some of his own fans during the win against Saint-Étienne.

His words transcribed in Nice-Matin, the Croatian reiterated his support for the Bayern Munich man on loan at the club, who has been the subject of ironic cheers on the part of a minority of fans after every save he makes.

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“I can’t accept that, I don’t like it. When you are a Monaco fan, you have to support all of the players. Lately, we’ve had some problems when building out from the back but it’s not his fault alone. It’s an error to think that it all rests on one player. There’s a whole system, a team.”

“We need the fans’ support and he has mine. That’s the most important thing. I know he can do better, I know his qualities. He has to be more calm, he could be better in that department but he has to be more confident in himself. For me, he hasn’t made any big errors and he’ll show his best form in the weeks and months to come. I’m sure of it. Like I say, he’s an smart and rational guy. He might give off the impression that he’s lacking in confidence but it will improve once he’s made a few saves. Alex has to start fresh and not put too much pressure on himself. He has to forget it all, even if it’s not easy.”

As part of their 20-page tribute to the late Bernard Tapie following the former Marseille president’s passing yesterday, L’Équipe have published a compilation of some of the businessman’s most iconic quotes.

Tapie, whose figure in France extended far beyond football – into politics, media and banking – was never one to shy away from memorable one-liners, with his reputation for plain speaking a key part of his cult status. Tributes have been pouring in since yesterday from both the footballing world and French society in general, as news emerged in the morning of his passing at 78.

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On watching his Marseille players lose to Strasbourg in 1986, right after taking over

“I never would have thought they’d be this bad!”

On midfielder Didier Deschamps refusing to leave for PSG despite Tapie pushing him out 

“I like guys that stand their ground against me.”

On defender Basile Boli complaining about a late payment

“I am capable of sending anyone to the third division, that includes Boli.”

On why he hadn’t found a club for Éric Cantona, who had been suspended by OM in 1989

“Because nobody wants Eric Cantona.”

On his efforts to sign Diego Maradona from Napoli in 1989

“Even a big, big Maradona is worth more than a small player”

After Marcelo Bielsa publicly criticised then-OM president Vincent Labrune in 2014

“Who does Bielsa think he is? When you are at Marseille, a club which has a completely different honours list compared to his, you act properly. I would have sacked him within seconds.”

On Javier Clemente’s sacking in 2001

“I haven’t had the time to learn Spanish.”

On bringing in and then sacking Franz Beckenbauer as manager in 1990/91

“Beckenbauer is the best in the world – with the Germans! And who would have had the balls to fire the World Cup winner after two months, if not me?”

On Lyon owner Jean-Michel Aulas

“Jean-Michel Aulas has one fault – that he didn’t listen to my advice. I told him multiple times to not sell his best players two seasons running. He didn’t listen to me.”

On the Valenciennes-Marseille match-fixing scandal

“If instead of Valenciennes-Marseille it had been Valenciennes-Monaco, it would have only lasted a week.”

On Guy Roux [long-time Auxerre manager]

“Guy Roux is the biggest hypocrite in French football.” [December 1993]

“Guy Roux, Jean-Claude Suaudeau, Luis Fernandez, those are football men, nothing to do with the mummies you sometimes see on the touchline.” [December 1994]

On France’s elimination at the 2010 World Cup

“Les Bleus deserved a kick up the arse more than a call-up to the parliament.”

And various more:

“When you’re against the tide and you swim quickly, you go backwards less than others.”

“I prefer working than having a girl in my bed.”

“People know I am a wheeler-dealer, but it’s not dangerous because I wear it on face – I’m not fooling anyone.”

In an interview with So Foot, Rennes former midfielder and current U19 coach at Rennes Laurent Viaud notably discussed the shift in the status of youth players compared to a decade ago. 

The 52-year-old had spent ten years at Angers – his first club in his playing days – before moving to Rennes this summer, and points out the differences between the two clubs and their youth systems and between the different eras of football.

“At Angers, I was rarely faced with young players who had no desire, they know they had to move their arses. The difference with Rennes is that here, young players already have a status, they’re all under contract, they have agents telling them they’re lovely and they’re the best. And then you’re the idiot who’s telling them that it’s hard and that they have to work for it.”

“So there’s obviously a disconnect between what us, the staff, tell them and what their entourage will say to them. So who do they listen to? Who do they trust? That’s the difficulty of our role, making them understand that they need to work, to exceed themselves. It’s not because something’s not written on your contract that you shouldn’t do it.”

“It’s not necessarily a defensive midfielder’s job to score goals, but if he does then it’s all the better for him. It’s going above and beyond your role, and it’s the same for everything, but it’s very difficult to get them to understand that. As long as I’m still in phase with that, I’ll do it, and the day I’m not I’ll go to pick mushrooms! [laughs]”

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In an interview with Le Parisien, Angers midfielder Souleyman Doumbia has discussed his career so far as he prepares to face his hometown team at the Parc des Princes tonight.

The 25-year-old Ivory Coast international notably speaks about his time in Italy playing for Bari, underlining the difficulties he faced with regard to racism.

On signing for Bari instead of staying at PSG

We couldn’t reach an agreement with PSG. On the one hand it was good, it allowed me to go abroad, to see the “real football”. At PSG, you’re in a cocoon, and by leaving it I discovered the real difficulties of football.

I was 19, almost 20, when I left, I didn’t speak Italian, I had to adapt quickly. The racism as well – I know it’s well known in Italy, but I wasn’t expecting it. I was coming from Paris, I didn’t know what racism was apart from seeing in on the TV. I had to hold on, fight for a few minutes, whether that was at Bari or in Vicenza where I was then loaned out.

I mostly felt it [racism] from the supporters, but also in life. I remember, in Vicenza, I was in a restaurant with a friend and they thought I was someone who had come to eat without paying. I had to justify myself by saying I was a football player and that I could afford my meal. Over the long term it’s a pain in the arse.

On whether he would make the same decision if he could turn back time

No, but I won’t bite the hand that feeds me either. My time in Italy forged me, it made me grow and progress. Without it, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

On returning to the Parc des Princes tonight

For any native of the Paris region, it’s special. Especially for players who came through at PSG. It’s not just any match, especially against those players, we’re hyped up.

On his time at PSG as a young player

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Those were my best years in footballl. You’re young, you see football as a hobby, not as a job. You don’t let it get to your head. Even if some players stood out like Moussa [Démbélé] or Kingsley [Coman], we all had a good level. There’s a number of us who came out of it. There are some in the Champions League, others in Ligue 1, in the Championship.. We’re all spread out but in leagues where very good football is played.

Le Parisien report that the option of terminating Sergio Ramos’ contract is no longer “science-fiction” for Paris Saint-Germain, as the club’s worries about his fitness grow.

The Spaniard has yet to play for PSG, having picked up a calf injury shortly after arriving this summer. He has progressively returned to individual training sessions, although the club believe that the repeated delays in his return to action are down to his insistence in returning as quickly as possible, which in turn causes new muscle issues. As of now, Ramos is still experiencing pain during his training sessions.

The World Cup winner has only started five club games this calendar year, having been operated on his left knee in February, his left calf in April (as well as catching Covid-19), and his Achilles tendon in May.

Director Leonardo had insisted to the press after Friday’s game against Lille that PSG “knew everything” with regard to Ramos’ fitness before signing him. From its weekly injury reportrs, club appears to maintain hope that the 35-year-old will return to action eventually, despite the fact that he has yet to train with his teammates. However, internally, optimism has started to wane.

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