Football Season Guide

Nancy endured a nerve-shredding campaign last time out, in which they narrowly missed relegation, despite having the third-biggest budget in the league. Their problems did not stop there. Such was their financial position, they were forced to appeal against relegation on economic grounds and narrowly passed the test. However, they lost numerous key elements that helped them to stay afloat last year, including loan stars Sylvain Marveaux and Vagner, and also head coach Alain Perrin. Consequently, they have been forced into drastic cost-cutting measures, getting rid of a large number of players in what was an overly large squad. Twelve players were released or allowed to join other teams, while five loan players, including four vital to the functioning of the team, all departed. Nancy have moved to replace these players and have opted to go for tried-and-tested Ligue 2 players. Ande Dona Ndoh and Ousmane Cissokho have both been stalwarts at this level for several years and come with certain guarantees, while Nimes goalkeeper Baptiste Valette arrives after spending much of last term on the bench in Ligue 1. They remain saddled with several underperforming high earners, including Danilson, who was expected to be a hit when he arrived last summer but proved entirely peripheral. He is the club’s leading wage and is a major issue as a consequence. Academy players are set to feature prominently this season, with Amine Bassi perhaps the most promising of these. He was disappointing last term, although he has rarely played in the No.10 role that suits him best. Deeper in the midfield, Laurent Abergel and Vincent Marchetti are set to be important while Abdelhamid El Khaoutari will be critical in the defence after impressing following his arrival in January. While Nancy’s squad is not lacking in numbers, many of these players failed to pull their weight last year and new boss Jean-Louis Garcia faces a major challenge to get more from them this time around. He may need to find a way, as the resources to bring in loan players like last year are unlikely to be available, and that was what saved Nancy from the drop.