Rennes finished sixth last term
In 1998, Breton billionaire François Pinault, a great fan of the team, bought the team, and gave it a strong financial stability. The club stated the ambition by spending a lot of cash on some new players, but they were all failures. The team now focuses on recruiting players from its youth academy, arguably one of the best in France. The academy produced such players as Yoann Gourcuff, Mikael Silvestre, Anthony Reveillere, and some are part of the current squad, notably Silvain Wiltord, Jimmy Briand, Sylvain Marveaux, Guillaume Borne and Fabien Lemoine. Two years age the team missed Champions league spot by a 93rd minute goal by Lille in the last game of the season. The team continued playing well last season and achieved 6th place finish which brought them participation in this year's Intertoto Cup. Now it was them who put a dent into Nancy's hopes of Champions league place, by defeating them away from home in the last round. The club is now constantly near the top of the league, and will look to build on that in the following season.
Asamoah Gyan
The team brought two very good players, USA captain defender Carlos Bocanegra, and one of the biggest signings of this transfer window, excellent forward Gyan Asamoah. Very good Toulouse keeper Nicolas Douchez also arrived, but the biggest gain is probably management's decision not to let Jimmy Briand join PSG. However, two first team players left the team, John Mensah joined Lyon, and Ettien Didot went to Toulouse. The team is led by Guy Lacombe, former PSG and Sochaux coach, who is responsible for introducing talents such as Benoit Pedretti and Jeremy Menez to French football. The team is well balanced as besides the players from the youth academy, there are some experienced players, such as Silvain Wiltord, Mickael Pagis, Jerome Leroy and Peter Hansson. The team is now strong in every department, with the attack possibly the strongest part of the team as it will be occupied probably by Briand, Wiltord and Gyan Asamoah. Midfield area is also very strong with such players as Bruno Cheyrou, Stephane M'Bia and Jerome Leroy.
In
Asamoah Gyan (Udinese)
Carlos Bocanegra (Bolton)
Nicolas Douchez (Toulouse)
Moussa Sow (returned from loan at Sedan)
Cheick N'Diaye (returned from loan at Créteil)
Out
Mensah (Lyon)
Ettien Didot (Toulouse)
Simon Pouplin (Freiburg)
Daniel Moreira (on loan at Grenoble)
DjimiTraoré (returned to Portsmouth)
Lhadji Badiane (on loan at Clermont)
Kevin Bru (on loan at Clermont)
Theophile Catherine (Cherbourg)
Fabrice N'Guessi (on loan at Créteil)
Rennes want another good season
The team wants to continue with the good performances, and club's decision not to sell possibly the best player shows just how serious they are. The team started training before other teams as they had to compete in the Intertoto Cup, and they struggled to enter Uefa Cup qualifying stage where they will play Stabek of Norway. All this is not surprising as it is still early in the season, and recent friendlies showed the things are getting better. The coach Lacombe will not have too difficult a task to make the team play as he thinks they should because only two first team players left, and the same number joined the club. The sooner Gyan Asamoah adapts to playing in France, the better team will play. Because of the early start of the European campaign it is normal for the team to reach top form earlier than other teams but also to get into crisis, come middle of the season. But I am sure experienced coach Guy Lacombe will know just how to make sure that doesn't happen. Rennes has a very good first team but if they reach the group stages of the Uefa Cup, it will be important to have good back up players as the coach will need to have the full squad. The team has good cover in attack, and also in the other areas, but mostly young players will have to step in. I think Rennes will achieve top table finish, and if younger players perform on the satisfying level, maybe the team will achieve another European qualification through league finish.
CL
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UEFA
RELEG