Second time lucky for Lille's Matias Fernandez-Pardo
If at first you don't succeed... that is clearly a motto that Matias Fernandez-Pardo lives by. The Belgian made the switch across the border, integrating Lille's academy back in 2014. It was at a time when Belgian's were very much in vogue for Les Dogues. Eden Hazard had not long since departed to join Chelsea, whilst that summer, Divock Origi left to join Liverpool.
'Impatience' leads Fernandez-Pardo back to Belgium
Fernandez-Pardo was earmarked as the next big Belgian talent to breakthrough at Lille. However, it was an impatience - or an impatience, or an eagerness, depending on how you view it - that brought his first chapter at Lille to an end.
"Matias didn't get the signs that he expected. He was asking himself whether he would play. He and his family had set a high bar and that is where his impatience was born," recalls Lille's former recruiter, Francois Vitali, in an interview with L'Équipe.
That "impatience" led him back to his native Belgium and, specifically, to KAA Gent, back in 2020. Four years, 28 senior appearances, and 10 goals later, and he was back. Having even tried to repatriate the winger a year earlier, LOSC got their man in the summer of 2024 for a €10m fee.
He arrived with his expectations, and expectations that, partially due to injury, weren't fully met in his opening months. Bruno Genesio's comments in April, just a few matchdays before the conclusion of the Ligue 1 McDonald's season, captured this feeling.
"He is still far away from what he can do because he has qualities way above the average. I can see that it is a lot better in terms of his commitment to the team. I see a lot of improvement in his game without the ball, in terms of his runs, his defensive effort. He is on the right path. He knows it and we all have confidence in him. But, naturally, we are always more demanding with people have such potential," said the Lille manager.
Fernandez-Pardo would go on to finish the season with six goals and four assists in 38 games in all competitions. It is a good return to a 20-year-old, experiencing his first season in Ligue 1 McDonald's, but he is already on track to better his statistics this time around.
Premier doublé au LOSC pour Matias Fernandez-Pardo 👏
Un mot sur son match ? ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/gCRH9E1ErU— LOSC (@losclive) August 31, 2025
In LOSC's spectacular 7-1 win over Lorient last weekend, Fernandez-Pardo netted his first brace for his formative club, whilst in the slender 1-0 win over Monaco a week earlier, it was the Spain youth international who teed up Olivier Giroud's 90th-minute winner.
It was Giroud who occupied the No.9 role in that game, whilst Hamza Igamane has also now arrived to play the position, however, Fernandez-Pardo also likes to play through the middle and offers Lille options across the forward line with his versatility and technical ability.
With players having left LOSC over the summer, Fernandez-Pardo will assume more responsability; he wouldn't have it any other way.
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