One left foot, and Lens still cannot find it
RC Lens have wanted a left-footed centre-back since the window opened, and they are still looking. Armando Obispo, tracked at PSV Eindhoven, got away. Jean-Louis Leca and the recruitment staff then put together a list of roughly ten names, and Le Parisien say El Chadaille Bitshiabu now sits near the top of it.
He ticks the boxes. Twenty-one, left-footed, a Paris Saint-Germain academy product who left the capital in the summer of 2023 for 15 million euros. RB Leipzig were paying for potential rather than production. Three seasons later he has 48 appearances in Saxony, only 14 of them last season. For an 18-year-old bought at that price, the return has been thin.
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Fourth choice, maybe fifth, in Saxony
The pecking order explains everything. Castello Lukeba and Willi Orban are the pairing and they are staying. Summer made it worse for him, with Maxime Esteve arriving from Burnley and Abdoul Kone signing from Reims. Bitshiabu is fourth in the queue. Possibly fifth.
His deal runs to June 2029, so Leipzig can sit tight. A stalled career gets expensive for everybody, though, and Lens’ opening approach has not been brushed aside by the player. Ligue 1, European football, regular minutes at 21. That is a real pitch.
Seven in, four out at Bollaert
Lens have already reshaped the squad. In: Yacine Titraoui (Charleroi), Michal Skoras (Gent), Saud Abdulhamid (AS Roma), Michael Cuisance (Hertha Berlin), Franjo Ivanovic (Benfica), Maik Nawrocki (Celtic) and Thorgan Hazard (Anderlecht).
Out: Mamadou Sangare to Brentford, Adrien Thomasson to Rennes, Wesley Said to Al-Shamal, Malang Sarr to Neom. Nathan Zeze, also of interest to Neom, stays on the Lens list.
What has not happened yet is a bid. A week from the deadline, the interest is still only interest.
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