Seko Fofana is back!
News
It's only the second day of January, but another major deal has taken place involving a face familiar to fans of Ligue 1 McDonald's. After Anthony Lopes called time on his decades-long spell with Olympique Lyonnais to join FC Nantes, another Breton side has made a big acquisition in the form of Seko Fofana coming back to the French top flight with Stade Rennais.
One of the league's best midfielders
Fofana was born in Paris and spent time on the books of Paris FC and FC Lorient as a youngster before joining Manchester City. Despite impressing in loan spells at Fulham and SC Bastia, he would move to Italian side Udinese in 2016, spending four years with the Serie A club. Growing in prominence over his time there, he made his international debut for the Ivory Coast, and would move to Racing Club de Lens in 2020 for a club-record fee.
After taking a bit of time to settle with Le Sang et Or, he became a key man for Franck Haise's side, winning a place in the UNFP Team of the Year in his second and third seasons, and also winning the Prix Marc-Vivien Foé, awarded to the best African player in Ligue 1, in 2021/22. His last season saw the northern side finish second, securing qualification for the UEFA Champions League, but he would join Saudi side Al-Nassr that summer. After a disappointing spell in the middle east (but one which saw him win the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations), he has now returned to France, signing with Rennes on a four-and-a-half year deal.
"We have the utmost confidence in him"
After a challenging start to the season that has seen Rennes dismiss manager Julien Stéphan and replace him with Jorge Sampaoli, the team have thus moved aggressively to pick up a proven presence in Ligue 1. Speaking to the press after his signing, sporting director Frédéric Massara was clear about the expectations for the veteran midfielder, saying, "He's a very good player who's going to help us a lot because he's shown all his qualities since the start of his career. He's got a great personality and a great mentality. He's a player who knows Ligue 1 well and has achieved some great thing,... We have the utmost confidence in him. We're convinced that he'll be able to make a rapid contribution to the team both technically and in terms of his state of mind. He will embody the mentality we want to develop for the team.
Fofana himself acknowledged that while the team have had a tough start to the season, there is still plenty to play for, as the team are just seven points off the European places. "I'm very excited at the idea of starting out, there are some talented players at Rennes and I don't think the club is where it should be. We're going to get the chance to play a series of games and show that the start of the season was below the club's potential. I hope we can turn things around very quickly."
That chance will come tomorrow as Rennes help get the 2025 portion of the Ligue 1 McDonald's season underway against OGC Nice.
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