Rennes (AFP) – By recruiting Brice Samba, the number 2 goalkeeper of the French team, Rennes struck hard this winter to try to save its season, sacrificing in the process its captain Steve Mandanda who, at 39, is wondering about the continuation of his career.
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Few French clubs can afford to spend some 14 million euros for a 30-year-old goalkeeper in the middle of a season marked by the drastic drop in TV rights.
If the transfer almost turned into a soap opera, Lens having little taste of the confidence of the Rennais on this file, the latter and their extremely wealthy owners, the Pinault family, nevertheless did not hesitate.
By almost tripling their initial investment, since they had repatriated the former Le Havre and Marseille player in the summer of 2022, from Nottingham Forest, for 5 million euros, the Sang et Or leaders can also rub their shoulders hands.
That summer, Mandanda, released by Marseille, had joined Brittany, at already a very respectable age, even for a goalkeeper, 37 years old. After a satisfactory first season, concluded in 4th place, Rennes entered a hole from which it is struggling to emerge.
Too rarely decisive
Despite his experience and the captain’s armband that he has worn since November 2023, the former number 2 goalkeeper of the Blues (35 caps) had not been the expected rock in a young defense prone to individual errors.
The start of this season has done nothing to reassure. Despite the great summer upheaval of the squad and a change of system, Mandanda was too rarely decisive or even just reassuring.
At the end of his contract with Rennes next June, finding a successor has become even more pressing with the arrival on the bench of Jorge Sampaoli in mid-November. The Argentinian had called him a “legend” during his presentation, but the scenario recalls their first cohabitation in Marseille where he had already taken away his starting status in favor of Pau Lopez, even if he later changed his mind .
With mediocre kicking, Mandanda does not have the profile sought by Sampaoli who wants a goalkeeper capable of participating in ball outings in short or long games. The blunder of the goalkeeper in Nice, who offered the second Riviera goal to Sofiane Diop last Friday, during a 3-2 defeat, is the most glaring example.
If he does not a priori plan to end his career immediately, Mandanda’s future nevertheless seems very uncertain.
Samba first, Mandanda last
“ Uncompromising on his line, decisive on penalty », as Rennes describes it in its press release, Brice Samba fits much more into this mold of “modern goalkeeper”.
Statistically, the comparison over the first 16 days of Ligue 1 is even quite scathing. Samba, who did not play in Lens’ last match, leads L1 goalkeepers in both the percentage of saved shots (81.5%) and the number of league matches without conceding a goal (7), where Mandanda is last in percentage (58.8%) and number of saves made (29).
Recently passed Alphonse Aréola in the hierarchy of goalkeepers for the Blues, behind the untouchable Mike Maignan (AC Milan), Samba seems at the peak of a career which took off late.
He only had his first “full” season with SM Caen in 2018/2019 and his first international cap dates back a year and a half.
“ I want to be as decisive as possible, that’s what brought me to the French team and I hope to continue this momentum “, he also declared to the club’s website.
In Rennes he will reunite with his former teammate during a season in Lens, central midfielder Seko Fofana, who signed on January 1 for Rennes.
“ It’s also a great pleasure to meet Seko again, we’ve called each other a lot recently. I obviously look forward to renewing our bond. “, he said.
With these two players, and while waiting for other reinforcements, Rennes is in any case seeing much further than the European qualification in which it still wants to believe for this end of the season.