RC Lens makes an announcement for the transfer window

RC Lens is counting its money. After the excitement sparked by qualification for the Champions League at the end of the 2022/2023 season, the Artesian club wants to return to a lifestyle more in line with its standing. This is also why the very expensive Elye Wahi (recruited in exchange for €30 million last year) was not selected when Olympique de Marseille placed €25 million on the table. This also explains why Lens sold more (€34 million) than bought (€14 million) during the last summer transfer window. And again.

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The Sang et Or had planned other departures which all collapsed due to a medical problem. We think of the Austrian defender Kevin Danso who was to sign for AS Roma as part of a loan paying €1 million with a compulsory purchase option of €22 million plus a €3 million bonus. All this without forgetting the aborted transfer of midfielder Neil El Aynaoui to AS Monaco. The two clubs had agreed on a deal bringing in around €15 million (excluding bonuses) for Lensois before a knee injury was detected during the medical examination organized by the ASM. In the end, the RCL saw a minimum of €37 million pass under its nose. But it’s only a postponement.

Lens still wants to sell

This Friday, the club’s general director, Pierre Dréossi, appeared before the media to provide an update on the next winter transfer window. And the former manager of FC Metz was clear. “I saw that we were already talking about it a lot. For me, it’s a continuation of what we started this summer. Sales that were not made because of medical considerations rather than choice. I hope we can do them this winter. Our desire from the start has been to say to ourselves that we want to continue to reduce our squad which is too large, but to have an ambitious group, even more ambitious in the second part of the season. The squad must be improved individually, but while remaining within our project”he declared before continuing.

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“We want to integrate more and more young people from the center into our professional squad. The club’s strategy is constructed, written and clear. This winter transfer window will be a continuation of what we did this summer, we will stick to it with a very strict management rule, but with ambitions which are neither downward nor upward, with the very clear objective which is the same as that at the start of the season. We want to permanently establish the club where it deserves to be, that is to say in a European place. » The message got through.