Where are the new Ligue 1 transfer window recruits coming from?

Of the 32 leagues where these summer recruits came from, 22 are based in Europe. Ligue 1 McDonald’s clubs brought in only one player from 14 of the 27 countries involved in this transfer window. Notably, this includes New Zealand international Ben Old, who joined AS Saint-Etienne.

During the summer transfer window, Ligue 1 clubs signed a total of 43 players, with France's top flight being the largest source of new talent with 27 signings while the Premier League was the second-largest contributor, sending 21 players to the French league.

Twelve out of the 18 Ligue 1 McDonald’s clubs saw one of their players move to another club within the league. Stade Rennais and Olympique Lyonnais had the highest number of departures, each losing five players; Rennes, in particular, sold the Doué brothers.

On the other hand, LOSC Lille, OGC Nice, Le Havre AC, Angers SCO, ASSE, and AJ Auxerre did not have players moving to other Ligue 1 McDonald’s clubs.

100 Percent International Recruitment for Stade Rennais

Three clubs have mainly focused on international recruitment. Stade Rennais, RC Lens, and Saint-Etienne have made their acquisitions from six different foreign countries.

Stade Rennais has recorded ten arrivals from six countries, including Norway, Spain, England, the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Italy.

RC Lens (England, Brazil, Belgium, Hungary, Italy, and Belarus) and Saint-Etienne (Belgium, Austria, Serbia, Israel, Australia, and England) have also made their recruitment abroad from six different countries in addition to France.

The 69 International Arrivals in the Summer Transfer Window

Details of the leagues where the new Ligue 1 McDonald’s recruits come from:

French Leagues:

• Ligue 1 McDonald’s: (27 players) Stade Rennais (G. Doué, D. Doué, Abline, Salah, Omari), OL (Sarr, Lepenant, Kadewere, Baldé, Diomandé), Toulouse FC (Mawissa), RC Lens (Wahi, Le Cardinal, Haïdara), OM (Amavi, Clauss), Paris Saint-Germain (E. Mbappé, Moscardo, Housni), Stade Brestois (Brassier), AS Monaco (Lemaréchal), RC Strasbourg Alsace (Aholou, Nzingoula), Stade de Reims (Abdelhamid, Doumbia), FC Nantes (Descamps), Havre AC (Gomis)
• Ligue 2 BKT: (11 players) FC Metz (Camara, Mikautadze, Caillard), ESTAC Troyes (Ndiaye, Baldé), FC Lorient (Meïté, Dieng), GF38 (Maubleu), USL Dunkerque (Gbamin), Clermont Foot (Allevinah), SM Caen (Abdi)
• National: (5 players) Girondins de Bordeaux (Davitashvili, Johnsson, Biumla, Ekomié), FC Martigues (Zouaoui)

Foreign Leagues:

• Premier League: (21 players) Manchester United (Greenwood), West Ham (Kehrer, Benrahma), Brighton (Sima), Bournemouth (Faivre, H. Traoré), Aston Villa (Sanson), Tottenham (Ndombélé, Hojbjerg), Nottingham Forest (Niakhaté), Southampton (Mara, Caleta-Car), Chelsea (M. Sarr, D. Moreira, A. Santos, Wiley, Petrovic), Watford (Koné), West Bromwich (Kipré), Wolverhampton (Hoever), Crystal Palace (Ahamada)
• Bundesliga: (seven players) Borussia Dortmund (Moukoko, S. Coulibaly), Mainz (Ajorque, E. Fernandes), Frankfurt (Pacho, Buta), Wolfsburg (Cozza)
• Championship: (seven players) Burnley (Zaroury), Leeds (Kamara, Cresswell), Luton (Osho), Norwich (Rowe), Sunderland (Pembélé, Ekwah)
• Belgium: (six players) R. Antwerp (Ilenikhena), Mechelen (Mukau), Charleroi (Koffi), Genk (McKenzie), La Gantoise (Fernandez-Pardo), Westerlo (Stassin)
• Netherlands: (five players) PSV (Teze), Heerenveen (Sahraoui), Ajax (Rulli), Deventer (de Lange), V. Arnhem (Arcus)
• Serie A: (five players) Inter Milan (Carboni), Napoli (Ostigard), Atalanta (Hateboer, Bakker), Parma (Buayi-Kiala)
• Turkey: (five players) Trabzonspor (Meunier), Alyanaspor (Akdag), Fenerbahçe (King, Zajc), Galatasaray (Zaha)
• La Liga: (three players) Villarreal (Mandi), Real Betis (Abner), Barcelona (Faye)
• Sweden: (two players) Malmö (Cornelius, Nanasi)
• MLS: (two players) Colorado (Bombito), Salt Lake (Gomez)
• League One: (two players) Birmingham (James), Huddersfield (Thomas)
• Norway: (two players) Glimt (Gronbaek), Sarpsborg (Meister)
• Denmark: (two players) Nordsjaelland (Coulibaly), Randers (Carlgren)
• Saudi Arabia: (two players) Ohod Club (Belkebla), Al-Ittihad (Jota)
• Portugal: (one player) Benfica (Neves)
• Serie B: (one player) Venezia (Tessmann)
• Scotland: (one player) Motherwell (Blair)
• Hungary: (one player) Debrecen (Ojediran)
• Israel: (one player) M. Haifa (Cornud)
• Greece: (one player) AEK (Sidibé)
• Russia: (one player) Krasnodar (Safonov)
• Austria: (one player) Wolfsberger (Boakye)
• Brazil: (one player) Bahia (Chavez)
• Colombia: (one player) Atlético Nacional (Perea)
• Senegal: (one player) Darou Salam (Diop)
• Switzerland: (one player) Lausanne II (Londja)
• Serbia: (one player) Cukaricki (Miladinovic)
• Australia: (one player) Wellington (Old)
• Egypt: (one player) Al Ahly (Abdelmonem)

European Experience of the Recruits

Although the average age of summer recruits in Ligue 1 McDonald’s is only 24 years and 100 days, French clubs have signed players experienced in European competitions.

The new arrivals collectively have 780 matches in European competitions (excluding preliminary rounds).

Stade Rennais have brought in players with the most continental appearances, with 116, led by Hans Hateboer (Europa League winner last year and Champions League quarter-finalist with Atalanta in 2019-20 vs. PSG) and Glen Kamara (Europa League finalist in 2021-22), just ahead of the 113 matches accumulated by the new Lille recruits.

For Lille, Thomas Meunier (32 years) has played 59 European matches, excluding preliminary rounds. OM (107 European matches) completes the podium of experienced recruits while PSG, semi-finalists of the last Champions League edition, ranks seventh with 46 accumulated matches.

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