Latest Posts

Arsenal defeat concludes poor pre-season for Athletic

A 3-0 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium rounded off a disappointing series of pre-season friendlies for Athletic Club. They were well beaten by an Arsenal side who took the lead through new signing Viktor Gyökeres in the 35th minute. The Swede rose highest in the box to score with a powerful header from a Zubimendi cross. Arsenal doubled their lead just two minutes later through Bukayo Saka and they wrapped things up through substitute Kai Havertz in the 82nd minute.

There was also a ceremonial penalty shoot-out that saw the Londoners win 6-5 to rubber stamp their victory and lift the Emirates Cup. Athletic Club must now turn their attention towards their La Liga season opener against Sevilla at San Mamés on Sunday 17th of August 2025. Arsenal will be travelling north to face Manchester United at Old Trafford on the same day.

The Arsenal defeat made it a morale sapping six defeats in a row for Athletic Club in friendly matches since they managed a 1-0 win over SD Ponferradina back on the 19th of July. Oihan Sancet scored the only goal in that win at the Urritxe stadium in Amorebieta-Etxano. Since then, Athletic have lost 1-0 to Alavés and 2-1 away to PSV Eindhoven at the Philips Stadion. Iñaki Williams gave Athletic the lead with a 16th minute header in the latter match but PSV equalised ten minutes later and bagged a winner in the second half.

Back in Spain, Athletic faced Racing Santander on the 30th of July but succumbed 2-1 again, with only a late consolation goal from Mikel Vesga to show for their efforts. Vesga headed in from a corner in the fifth minute of added time. Athletic then headed over to England to complete their pre-season schedule with a double header against Liverpool before the trip to London to face the Gunners.

There were back to back games against Liverpool at Anfield on the 4th of August and the opening won went firmly they way of the hosts, who ran out 4-1 winners. They were three nil up by half time and extended that lead in the 58th minute. A 76th minute strike from Gorka Guruzeta was the only response that Athletic could muster. The second match was a much closer affair with Liverpool taking the lead twice but Athletic equalising each time through Sancet and then a Gakpo own goal. Gakpo struck at the right end with 20 minutes to go to secure a 3-2 win for the English champions.

Lyon complete pre-season with another win

Olympique Lyonnais rounded off their preparations for the 2025-26 season with a 2-1 win over Spanish La Liga side Getafe in a friendly match at the Stade Pierre-Rajon in Bourgoin-Jallieu. The venue was the scene of one of the lowest points of Lyon’s previous campaign, when they crashed out of the Coupe de France in the Round of 32 last January. That defeat on penalties to National 3 (fifth tier) outfit FC Bourgoin-Jallieu contributed to manager Pierre Sage receiving his marching orders a few days later, to be replaced by Paulo Fonseca.

Fonseca appears to have whipped his players into good shape over the summer and the friendly results have been encouraging. This win will provide a final boost to their confidence ahead of the trip to Lens on the opening weekend of Ligue 1. Getafe are no mugs, having finished 13th in La Liga last season and they provided a stern test for Fonseca’s new-look line-up. New signing Tyler Morton made his debut, having recently arrived from Liverpool, and another addition, Czech midfielder Pavel Šulc was on the bench.

Lyon got off to a decent start in front of around 5,000 fans on a hot afternoon and had an early chance through Mikautadze. Then youngster Khalis Merah won a penalty in the 24th minute and Mikautadze stepped up to take it. His initial effort was saved, but he reacted fastest to stick away the rebound and open the scoring. The Spanish team equalised in the 39th minute courtesy of a penalty at the other end after a foul by Moussa Niakhaté and it was all square at the interval.

Georgian striker Georges Mikautadze was in the thick of the action again in the second half when he won the third penalty of the game. Getafe’s Togolese defender Djené was shown a straight red card for the foul in the box and this time Ainsley Maitland-Niles stepped up to convert from the spot. Šulc made his club debut, replacing Fofana in the 78th minute and Lyon held on to win 2-1.

Lyon had begun their pre-season fixtures with a 1-0 win against lowly Villefranche Beaujolais behind closed doors at their training centre on the 19th of July. Corentin Tolisso got the only goal from the penalty spot. They followed that with a 0-0 draw against sister club RWDM Brussels (formerly Molenbeek) at the same venue.

Lyon suddenly found their form in front of goal the following weekend with a spectacular 4-0 win against Hamburger SV away at the Volksparkstadion. Newly promoted back to the 1. Bundesliga, 45,757 fans turned up to see them outclassed over two halves of sixty minutes apiece by a ruthless Lyon. Fofana, Maitland-Niles and Mikautadze did the initial damage with goals in the first period before wholesale changes to the line-up for the second mini match. Newly signed Portuguese winger Afonso Moreira got the fourth goal to rub salt into the wound.

Fonseca then took the squad away to a training camp in Kufstein, Austria where they met Spanish side Mallorca in a midweek friendly. Lyon resumed where they’d left off in Germany and took the lead through Brazilian left-back Abner Vinícius. Mikautadze, Abner again and then Khalis Merah added further goals before half-time to seal another 4-0 win for the rampant Gones.

Lyon’s only defeat of pre-season came away at the Allianz Arena on the 2nd of August when they faced a strong Bayern Munich team. Bayern’s french star Michael Olise scored a brace to put them in the driving seat and they hung on for the win despite a late consolation goal from Alejandro Gomes Rodríguez.

So, Lyon can look back on four wins, a draw and one defeat from their six pre-season matches. Twelve goals scored and only three conceded looks great on paper and hopefully they can carry that form into the new season. They have been highly active in the transfer market and we may see more player arrivals and possibly departures too before the transfer window closes. However, it looks as though they have the basis of a squad to at least compete in Ligue 1, and that wasn’t a given just a few weeks ago when the threat of administrative relegation was still hanging over their head.

Ander Herrera – Player Profile

Full Name: Ander Herrera Agüera
Date of Birth: 11/08/1989
Place of Birth: Bilbao
Nationality: ESP
Position: Central Midfielder
Clubs: Real Zaragoza, Athletic Club, Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain, Athletic Club, Boca Juniors

Ander Herrera is a Basque central midfielder who spent the bulk of his career playing for Athletic Club in Spain and Manchester United in England. He began his career with Real Zaragoza and also had spells with Paris Saint-Germain in France and Boca Juniors in Argentina. At his peak he won two caps for the Spanish national team.

Herrera was renowned as a versatile, all-round midfielder equally at home playing in a number ten role behind the forwards or in a more defensive number 6 role. He was energetic, tenacious and hard-working, a true box-to-box midfielder. Neat and tidy in possession, he also had an eye for a killer pass and chipped in with his fair share of goals.

Football in his blood

Ander Herrera was born into a family with a strong football heritage. His great-great-uncle, Graciano San Cristobal Larrinaga, played for Athletic Club in the 1928-29 season and his father, Pedro Herrera Sancristóbal, was a midfielder with Erandio, Salamanca, Real Zaragoza and Celta Vigo. His career highlight was winning the Copa del Rey with Real Zaragoza in 1986 when they beat Barcelona 1-0 in the final.

After he retired, he took on the role of a Sporting Director at Celta Vigo, so it was in Galicia that young Ander spent the first four years of his life. In 1993, the family moved to Zaragoza when Pedro became a Technical Secretary at Real Zaragoza and Ander spent the rest of his childhood growing up in Aragon.

Naturally he became a Real Zaragoza fan and he remembers watching on television as they won the European Cup Winners Cup against Arsenal in 1995. His parents had gone to Paris for the final and left the five-year-old Ander to stay with friends. By the time he turned twelve, he was himself part of the Real Zaragoza academy and was already beginning to stand out in youth tournaments.

As a fall-back, Ander Herrera studied journalism and law, but it soon became clear that he was going to make it as a professional footballer. That was underlined by his performances in the cadete category (for 15 & 16 year olds) in the 2004-05 season when he led Real Zaragoza to the national title, beating Real Madrid 3-1 in the final.

First steps at Zaragoza

The 2008-09 season heralded his major breakthrough into senior football. He was promoted from the youth team into the Real Zaragoza B squad at the start of the season and made his debut for them against Atlético Calatayud in the Tercera división, the regionalised fourth tier of Spanish football. However, he only spent half a season with the B team before catching the eye of first team boss Marcelino García Toral.

Real Zaragoza were playing in the Segunda División at the time, having been relegated from the top flight the previous season. They were pushing hard for an immediate return, but had lost two on the bounce and dropped to fourth place, just outside the automatic promotion spots when Herrera was called into the squad for a home fixture against Levante on the 1st of February 2009.

Marcelino called him off the bench to replace the Argentine left-winger Juan Pablo Caffa in the 65th minute with the game deadlocked at 1-1. Herrera’s introduction helped Zaragoza turn that stalemate into a 2-1 victory and he never looked back. From that point on he was involved in all but two of Zaragoza’s remaining matches and soon became a starter in his own right. His first goal came against Tenerife in early May and he followed it up with another in the very next game. A long unbeaten run saw Real Zaragoza climb back into third spot and seal promotion back to the Primera División at the first attempt.

Rapid development

Ander Herrera also made his debut for the Spain U-20 team in 2009 and he went to the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Egypt later that year. He was on the score-sheet twice in the group stage as Spain topped Group B with three wins, but they lost 3-1 to Italy in the Round of 16 and went home early. Following that tournament, Herrera was promoted to the Spain U-21 squad.

During the summer, Herrera had signed his first professional contract, a four-year deal tying him to Real Zaragoza until 2013. He quickly adapted to top flight football and made 30 La Liga appearances, scoring two goals in the 2009-10 season as Zaragoza finished 14th, four places above the relegation spots. They had flirted with relegation during the middle part of the season, which cost coach Marcelino his job, but José Aurelio Gay was brought in to steady the ship.

Gay was himself dismissed in November 2010 following a torrid start to the new season which saw Real Zaragoza winless in their first nine games and rock bottom at the turn of the year. They improved dramatically under Mexican manager Javier Aguirre to escape relegation on the final day with a 2-1 win at Levante. Herrera already knew that it was to be his final appearance for Zaragoza because he had signed a pre-contract agreement to join Athletic Club in the summer for a fee of €7.5 million. He had contributed two goals in 33 appearances during the season.

European Champion

By now, Herrera was a regular starter for the Spanish U-21 national selection under coach Luis Milla Aspas and he went to the 2011 U-21 Euros in Denmark at the end of the season. Drawn into Group B, they opened their campaign against Stuart Pearce’s England in Herning. It was a match full of future Manchester United and Athletic Club stars, with Herrera lining up alongside Juan Mata, David de Gea and Javi Martinez, with Mikel San José and Iker Muniain on the bench for Spain.

The England team contained Danny Welbeck, Tom Cleverley, Chris Smalling and Phil Jones plus a whole host of other famous names, but it was the diminutive Herrera who opened the scoring in the 14th minute. Martinez flicked on an Alcantara corner and Herrera was there at the far post to turn it into the net, although there was a suspicion of handball about it. Spain held on until the 88th minute when Kyle Walker played in Welbeck for a late equaliser which was fortunate not to be ruled offside.

Spain comfortably beat the Czechs and Ukraine to top the group, but needed extra time to see off Belarus in the semi-finals. They faced a Switzerland team containing Xherdan Shaqiri and Granit Xhaka in the final in Aarhus. Herrera opened the scoring once again when he headed Dídac Vilà’s cross past Yann Sommer in the 41st minute. Fellow midfielder Thiago Alcántara sealed victory with a free-kick nine minutes from time. That 2-0 win in Aarhus gave Herrera the first major honour of his career and he was named in the team of the tournament to boot.

Stepping up with Bielsa’s Bilbao

Ander Herrera’s arrival at Athletic Club coincided with that of Argentinian coach Marcelo Bielsa, who had left his post at the helm of the Chilean national team earlier in 2011. He handed Herrera his debut in the opening match of the season, a UEFA Europa League qualifier at home to Trabzonspor. It finished 0-0 but the Basques were spared a tricky looking return leg in Turkey because Fenerbahçe were kicked out of European competition in the meantime due to a match-fixing scandal. Trabzonspor inherited their place in the Champions League and Athletic Club got a free pass into the Europa League.

They convincingly won Group F of that competition, ahead of RB Salzburg, PSG and Slovan Bratislava to take their European campaign into the new year. Meanwhile, they overcame a shaky start in La Liga to slowly climb the table with Herrera most commonly featuring in a central attacking midfield role. The fixtures started to pile up in the second half of the season as they competed on three fronts, which contributed to their patchy league form towards the end of the campaign. Bielsa had them playing his trademark high-energy brand of football, which was beautiful to behold, but hard to sustain with a match every three or four days.

The young Herrera was, however, perfectly suited to this style and he flourished under Bielsa. Their Europa league run took them to Old Trafford in the last sixteen where they pulled off a surprise 3-2 win against Sir Alex Ferguson’s team. They repeated the trick a week later at San Mames to put United out of Europe before dispatching Schalke 04 and Sporting Clube with similar swashbuckling football. That set up a final clash against Atlético Madrid in Bucharest.

Final frustration

Meanwhile, their Copa del Rey run had also taken them all the way to the final against Barcelona at the Estadio Vicente Calderón in Madrid. Their hugely entertaining and highly promising season all boiled down to those two showpiece occasions in May and two chances to end their 28 year trophy drought. Unfortunately, whether it was down to nerves or fatigue or inexperience, they just didn’t show up in either match, losing them both 3-0.

The season may have ended on a massive anticlimax, but Herrera had won many plaudits for his eye-catching performances and established himself as one of the key players at his new club. The 54 appearances that he made across all competitions that season would remain a career high and he also contributed four goals and eleven assists. His form made him an obvious choice for inclusion in Luis Milla Aspas’ squad for the 2012 Olympic Games in London that summer where Spain were among the favourites. He featured as a substitute in all three group games, but they underwhelmed with two defeats and a draw to crash out at the first hurdle.

Onwards and upwards with Valverde

Bielsa and Herrera’s second season at San Mames was much less successful and they struggled in every competition. Indifferent league form saw them never climb higher than 12th in the La Liga table, which is where they ultimately finished. They were however, eleven points better off than Herrera’s former club, Real Zaragoza, who he will have been sad to see finishing rock bottom and relegated to the Segunda División.

Athletic Club’s interest in the cup competitions was ended before Christmas with an ignominious defeat on away goals to neighbours Eibar in the Copa del Rey. Having negotiated two qualifying rounds, their Europa League group stage campaign was a disaster, with their only win coming against Ironi Kiryat Shmona on matchday 5. By then they had lost a double header against Olympique Lyonnais 2-1 at the Stade de Gerland and 3-2 at San Mames despite a goal from Herrera. A defeat away at Sparta Prague meant that Athletic Club were already eliminated before the final round of matches.

It was clear that things were no longer working out and Bielsa departed at the end of that 2012-13 season to be replaced by Ernesto Valverde. The managerial change precipitated an upturn in fortunes for the club and, without the distraction of European football, they were much more consistent in La Liga. So consistent, in fact, that they never dropped lower than sixth in the table and never rose higher than third. Their eventual fourth place finish in May 2014 was their highest since coming second in 1997-98 and also achieved Champions League qualification for the first time since then.

United finally get their man

However, Ander Herrera didn’t stick around in Bilbao for the eagerly anticipated Champions League campaign. Instead he signed for a club who had just failed to qualify for that competition for the first time in 17 years. Manchester United’s 7th place finish under David Moyes in 2013-14 was their lowest since coming 13th in 1989-90 and meant that they failed to qualify for any of the European competitions for the first time since English clubs were readmitted after their five season ban ended in 1990.

Moyes had attempted to sign Herrera the previous summer but United refused to meet the player’s buyout clause and Athletic Club rejected the offer on transfer deadline day. Nine months later, their interest in the player was rekindled and new manager Louis Van Gaal made Herrera his first signing upon taking the reins at Old Trafford. This time United were convinced to pay the €36 million that triggered Herrera’s release clause and the twenty-four-year-old signed a four-year contract with an option to extend for a fifth season.

Finding his feet at Old Trafford

Herrera made his Manchester United debut in the opening Premier League game of the season, an underwhelming 2-1 defeat at home to Swansea City. A minor injury kept him out of the next two fixtures before he returned to face QPR at Old Trafford with United still seeking their first win under Van Gaal. A Di Maria free-kick set them on the way and then Herrera bagged his first United goal to double the lead in the 36th minute. It came after a strong run from Di Maria down the left before Rooney laid the ball off to Herrera to stroke it home with his right foot from just inside the D.

Herrera returned the favour eight minutes later to set up Rooney for United’s third goal and record his first assist for the club. United went on to win 4-0, spoiling Rio Ferdinand’s emotional return to Old Trafford, having joined the R’s that summer. Ander Herrera scored again in the following match, a topsy-turvy 5-3 defeat at Leicester City, but he took a while to fully establish himself as a regular starter under Van Gaal and was in and out of the line-up during the first half of the season.

However, from mid-February onwards he started every match and it turned out to be his most productive league campaign in front of goal. His six Premier League strikes were a career high and he netted another couple in the FA Cup. United’s 4th place finish in 2014-15 was enough to get them back into the Champions League, so Herrera would finally get his first taste of Europe’s premier cup competition.

Up for the cup

Unfortunately his Champions League debut didn’t go particularly well, with United losing 2-1 at PSV Eindhoven in their opening match. They ultimately finished third in Group B behind the the Dutch outfit and VfL Wolfsburg to drop into the Europa League where they were ignominiously dumped out by Liverpool in the last sixteen.

Things didn’t go much better in the league, where Herrera was regularly rotated by Van Gaal. He made 27 appearances but only 17 starts, scoring three times as United finished fifth, missing out on Champions League qualification on goal difference to Manchester City. The FA Cup proved to be their salvation and Herrera was instrumental in their run to the final, providing assists in the fifth round, quarter-final and semi-final. They faced Crystal Palace in the decider at Wembley and even though Herrera remained on the bench throughout the 2-1 extra-time win, he still picked up the first major club honour of his career.

Mourinho’s man

Famously, lifting the FA Cup wasn’t enough to keep Louis Van Gaal in his job and he was replaced by José Mourinho in the summer. That was good news for Herrera as the Portuguese manager took an instant shine to him, making him his third most used player during the 2016-17 campaign. His fifty appearances across all competitions were second only to Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba.

That 2016-17 season was probably when Herrera reached the peak of his powers as a player. He added three more trophies to his collection and, at twenty-seven years old, received his first call-up to the full Spain squad. It all began at Wembley in August when they beat champions Leicester City 2-1 in the FA Community Shield in Mourinho’s first official match in charge. United followed that up with wins in their opening three Premier League matches to complete a perfect first month under the Portuguese boss.

International debut

Form in September was a little more patchy for United and they slipped down the table somewhat, but Herrera’s performances had caught the eye of Spain manager Julen Lopetegui. When a couple of players dropped out of his initial squad for the October international break, Lopetegui handed Herrera a late call-up as a replacement and he sat on the bench for World Cup qualifiers against Italy and Albania.

The following month he was included in the squad once again and this time he made his full international debut as a substitute in a friendly against England at Wembley. He came on to replace Thiago Alcántara in the 56th minute with Spain trailing 2-0. His introduction helped turn the game in Spain’s favour and they fought back to draw 2-2 with late goals from Iago Aspas and Isco.

Wembley winner again

By the turn of the year, United were sixth in the Premier League and going well in the cup competitions, having made the UEFA Europa League knockout phase and the League Cup semi-finals. They overcame Hull City over two legs in the latter competition to set up a final against Southampton at Wembley in late February.

Having missed the second leg of United’s 5-0 aggregate win over Saint-Étienne in midweek through suspension, Herrera was back in the starting line-up for the League Cup final. He lined up alongside Paul Pogba in central midfield and helped United to a 2-0 lead with goals from Ibrahimović and Lingard before a brace from Manolo Gabbiadini either side of the interval brought the Saints level. It looked to be heading towards extra time until Herrera crossed for Ibrahimović to head in an 87th minute winner and send the trophy back to Old Trafford.

The following month, Herrera won his second Spain cap in a friendly against France at the Stade de France where he came off the bench to replace Koke in the 74th minute of a 2-0 win. Ultimately it would prove to be the final appearance of his short-lived international career. In another era he may well have won many more caps, but he had the misfortune to be playing at a time when Spain were blessed with an embarrassment of riches in his position.

European success caps a fine season

Domestically, United were unable to rise higher than sixth in the Premier League table but they marched on in the Europa League, edging past Anderlecht and Celta Vigo in the quarter and semi-finals. The final pitted them against Peter Bosz’s Ajax in Stockholm. Herrera was again paired with Pogba in central midfield against a team containing future United stars Matthijs de Ligt and André Onana with Donny Van Der Beek on the bench.

Goals from Pogba and Mkhitaryan gave United a 2-0 win and Herrera was declared man of the match as United won the Europa League for the first time in their history, making it a cup double in the 2016-17 season. Herrera’s fifty appearances (44 starts, 6 as a substitute) made it his busiest season for United and he weighed in with eleven assists and two goals. His performances earned him the Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year award.

Second best

The 2017-18 campaign began with defeat to Real Madrid in the European Super Cup final in Skopje, but they started strongly in the Premier League. Six wins and two draws in their opening eight fixtures put them in second place and they held that position for most of the season, eventually finishing ‘best of the rest’ a distant nineteen points behind runaway champions Manchester City.

Runners-up was also to be their fate in the FA Cup where they met Antonio Conte’s Chelsea in the final at Wembley. Herrera started on the right of a midfield diamond, with Matic at its base, Pogba on the left and Lingard at the apex. It was a tight game in which United dominated the possession and a single goal proved to be the difference. A penalty converted by Eden Hazard in the 22nd minute settled the tie that was notable as the first FA Cup final to use the video assistant referee (VAR) system. That was no help to United as it ruled out a potential equaliser by Alexis Sánchez in the second half.

The improved league form and FA Cup run may have served to paper over a few cracks during that season. United’s return to the Champions League ended in a disappointing defeat to Sevilla in the Round of 16 and their League Cup defence unravelled at Bristol City. The arrival of Matic meant that Herrera faced increased competition for minutes on the pitch and his contribution was reduced to 25 starts plus 14 appearances off the bench.

Frustrating final season at Old Trafford

Those numbers continued to wane the following season, during which he was hampered by a couple of injuries. That 2018-19 campaign started disastrously with manager José Mourinho getting the sack a few days before Christmas to be replaced by Ole Gunnar Solskjær. Herrera didn’t get a proper run in the starting line-up until December, when he returned to full fitness and finally found some consistency. He was a key part of the revival under Solskjær and even won the Manchester United Player of the Month award for February 2019 before a hip injury disrupted his momentum.

That knock, picked up in a 0-0 draw against Liverpool at Old Trafford in late February, was the beginning of the end of Herrera’s United career. Sadly, he only featured four more times in a United shirt, his final appearance coming as a substitute in a 1-1 draw at Huddersfield on the 5th of May. United finished in sixth place and Herrera announced that he would be leaving on a free transfer when his contract expired at the end of June. His final United stats tallied up to 189 appearances (140 starts) and 20 goals in all competitions.

Guaranteed trophies

Ander Herrera’s destination was France, where he signed up to the Qatari sportswashing project at Paris Saint-Germain on a five-year contract. German coach Thomas Tuchel needed a like-for-like replacement for Adrien Rabiot, who had left to join Juventus, and Herrera fitted the bill. However, he faced stiff competition for a place in the starting line-up. His compatriot Pablo Sarabia and Everton’s Idrissa Gueye were both recruited for big money to further bolster PSG’s options in central midfield. Lest we forget, the squad already featured the likes of Marco Verratti, Leandro Paredes and Julian Draxler in that position, so they were spoilt for choice.

Needless to say, the decision to join this financially doped super squad did wonders for Herrera’s personal palmarès over the following few seasons as they steamrollered their way to trophy after trophy. He played the role of one of the workhorses to win the ball and feed it to the ‘galactiques’ such as Mbappé, Cavani, Neymar and later Lionel Messi, who would terrorise the opposition defences.

Industrious players such as Herrera, Verratti and Gueye were the legs and lungs of the team and had to literally do the running for their more illustrious colleagues, whose goal output meant that their lack of tracking-back was by and large indulged by a succession of coaches. It was a dysfunctional system made viable by the sheer gulf in class between PSG and their domestic rivals, but it often came unstuck against the better teams in Europe.

Denied a clean sweep by Bayern

That first season at PSG was greatly disrupted for Herrera on a personal level by calf, hamstring and thigh injuries, and on a wider level by the Covid-19 pandemic. However, he still came out of it with four trophies, staring with the Trophée des Champions, which he won on his debut with a 2-1 victory against Rennes in Shenzhen. The Ligue 1 season was controversially abandoned at the end of February due to Covid and PSG were declared champions. They also won both cups, beating Saint-Étienne 1-0 in the Coupe de France final and luckily scraping past Lyon 6-5 on penalties after a 0-0 draw in the last ever Coupe de la Ligue final. Herrera was one of the scorers in the shootout.

For the first time in their short history, PSG also made it to the Champions League final in 2020. They faced Bayern Munich at the Estádio da Luz in Lisbon and Herrera lined up alongside Marquinhos and Paredes in central midfield. It was a tight game with Bayern’s pairing of Leon Goretzka and Herrera’s old sparring partner Thiago Alcántara battling for supremacy in the centre of the park. Former PSG academy graduate Kingsley Coman eventually broke the deadlock for Bayern midway through the second half and Herrera was replaced by Draxler thirteen minutes later as PSG chased an equaliser that never materialised.

Old Trafford reunion

The 2020-21 season was Ander Herrera’s most consistent campaign for PSG. He managed 45 appearances across all competitions, up from 22 in his injury hit previous season. However, despite retaining the Coupe de France and the Trophée des Champions they were unusually fallible in Ligue 1 under Tuchel and subsequently Mauricio Pochettino. They missed out on the title by a point, finishing second behind Christophe Galtier’s Lille.

PSG’s Champions League group stage included a pair of fixtures against Manchester United. They lost 2-1 to the Red Devils at the Parc des Princes on the opening match day, but got revenge on Herrera’s return to Old Trafford. Played behind closed doors in December due to ongoing pandemic restrictions, the match was level at 1-1 when Herrera entered the fray, replacing Paredes in the 65th minute. His introduction helped swing it in PSG’s favour and they ran out 3-1 winners. PSG made it all the way to the semi-finals where they came unstuck against Manchester City.

The arrivals of Danilo Pereira and Georginio Wijnaldum meant that there was more competition than ever for places in the PSG midfield in the 2021-22 season. Herrera still managed a respectable 28 appearances across all competitions, but was only their sixth most used central midfielder. They crashed out of the cup competitions early on and Herrera missed a large part of the second half of the season, having fallen out of favour. He featured in the final two games as PSG celebrated another Ligue 1 title, but probably began to feel that his days at the club were numbered as he approached his 33rd birthday that summer.

Back to Bilbao

Christophe Galtier was installed as the new PSG manager in July 2022 and Herrera wasn’t part of his plans, so the Basque midfielder began to explore his options. There’s one club in particular that’s always on the lookout for top Basque players due to their Basques only policy, so a return to Athletic Club was mooted. By coincidence, the man who sold Herrera to Manchester United eight years earlier, Ernesto Valverde, had just been reinstalled as Athletic Club manager and he was keen to renew their association..

Therefore, a loan move from PSG back to Athletic Club was agreed in August 2022 with an option to make the deal permanent. His ‘second debut’ for Athletic came as a substitute in a 3-2 win against Rayo Vallecano at San Mames Barria on matchday six of La Liga. He was sent off in his third game back and then, following a one match ban, made the first start of his second spell in Bilbao on matchday ten, a 2-2 draw at Getafe. The loan move was made permanent at the end of the January transfer window but the remainder of his season was punctuated by injury absences. In total he managed twenty appearances as Athletic finished in 8th place and just missed out on a European spot.

Epic cup run

2023-24 proved to be a much more memorable campaign, which culminated in Athletic Club finally ending their long major trophy drought. Herrera was more consistently fit and was only side-lined by a pair of hamstring injuries that kept him out for a month apiece in autumn and early spring. He managed 23 La Liga appearances as Athletic improved to finish fifth in the table. However, it’s the epic Copa del Rey run that will go down in Athletic Club folklore.

They dispatched UE Rubí and CD Cayón in the early rounds before Christmas and comfortably won Basque derbies against Eibar and Alavés in January before meeting Barcelona in the quarter-finals. A packed house at San Mames saw Athletic take an early lead through Guruzeta only for the Catalans to turn it around with goals from Lewandowski and Yamal before half time. Sancet restored parity early in the second half and it stayed that way until the final whistle. Herrera came off the bench for extra time, replacing Beñat Prados in central midfield. His fresh legs helped swing the game in Athletic’s favour and goals from the Williams brothers sealed a famous win.

The semi-final was a two-legged affair against Atletico de Madrid. Herrera played the last half hour of the 1-0 first leg win away in Madrid but missed the second leg through injury. However, his team mates did him proud with a 3-0 triumph to set up a final against RCD Mallorca. The final, at La Cartuja stadium in Seville, was a reunion of sorts for Herrera as Mallorca were managed by none other than Javier Aguirre, the Real Zaragoza coach who had sold him to Athletic some eleven years earlier.

Glory and la gabarra

Ander Herrera was named among the substitutes for the final and looked on as Athletic fell behind to a Dani Rodríguez goal in the 21st minute but fought back via Oihan Sancet shortly after the interval. It was a nervy encounter with Athletic enjoying the lion’s share of the possession and creating the most chances but unable to find a winner through the ninety minutes and extra time. Herrera remained on the bench throughout and had to watch the penalty shoot-out from the side-line. Fortunately Raúl García, Iker Muniain, Mikel Vesga and Álex Berenguer kept their cool from the spot and the trophy headed back to Bilbao for the first time since 1984.

A few days later, back in Bilbao, over a million fans bedecked in red and white lined the banks of the Nervión river to see the victory parade on the famous barge ‘la gabarra’. Scenes that hadn’t been witnessed for forty years. Herrera was truly privileged to be a part of it in the twilight of his career and he was quoted as saying that it felt “incomparable to anything” he had experienced. At the end of the season, he extended his contract to stay on at Athletic for another year despite rumours of a return to his boyhood club, Real Zaragoza.

In the first half of the 2024-25 campaign Herrera was mainly used as a substitute due to the emergence of Mikel Jauregizar in addition to the competition from Galarreta, Prados and Vesga for playing time in central midfield. A 1-0 home win in the derby against Real Sociedad in late November turned out to be his final La Liga appearance for Athletic Club, as he picked up another muscle injury shortly afterwards that kept him out of action until the turn of the year.

A last hurrah in Argentina

Herrera returned for a farewell Copa del Rey outing away at Logroñés on the fourth of January, which Athletic won 4-3 on penalties after a 0-0 draw. That proved to be the swansong of his second spell in the red and white stripes. During the January transfer window the opportunity arose to join Boca Juniors one a one-year contract and Herrera, now 35 years old, was keen to experience playing outside of Europe before hanging up his boots. He put pen to paper and Athletic allowed him to move on a free transfer.

Herrera went straight into the Boca first team and his adventure in Argentina began with a routine cup win against CD Argentino followed by a 0-0 draw against Argentinos Juniors at the legendary Bombonera stadium three days later. Unfortunately he suffered yet another muscle injury in the latter match that kept him out for almost a month. He was back in time to feature in the second leg of their disappointing Copa Libertadores exit at the hands of Alianza Lima in late February and play in another four league games before muscle issues struck him down once more.

Fit again in time for the inaugural FIFA Club World Cup in June, Herrera lined up for Boca against Benfica in their opening Group C fixture at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. However, his injury misfortune struck again and he was forced off after only twenty minutes. To add insult to injury, he was also sent off just before half-time for arguing with the officials on the side-line.

Legacy

The ever more frequent injury problems may well mean that Herrera chooses to bring down the curtain on his long and distinguished playing career in the not too distant future. When that time comes, he’ll be remembered as a fine all-round midfielder who won trophies everywhere he went.

His place in history is assured as the first (and so far only) player to have represented both Athletic Club and Manchester United. In other MUACOL related trivia, he was also the first player to be directly transferred between two MUACOL clubs and remains the most expensive transfer between any of them to date. A true MUACOL legend!

Ander Herrera Links:
Wikipedia | Transfermarkt | Soccerway

Alejandro Gomes Rodríguez – Player Profile

Alejandro Gomes Rodríguez is a Venezuelan born striker who plays for Olympique Lyonnais in France. He currently represents England in youth international football, having lived in Southampton from the age of ten until he moved to Lyon aged sixteen. He is also eligible to represent both Venezuela and Portugal and has been involved with both countries at youth level in the past.

Born in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, in 2008, he began playing football aged five, and hoped to one day move to Europe to fulfil his ambition of becoming a professional. It was thanks to an uncle living in Southampton that the family chose to move to England when Alejandro was ten and they settled on the south coast where the youngster resumed his football activities.

He joined the youth section of local non-league club Eastleigh and a couple of years later earned a trial at Southampton. The trial was a success and he signed for the Saints, formally joining their scholarship programme in 2022. Now aged 14, he was physically mature for his tender years and blessed with a quick turn of speed, reputedly winning the Hampshire schools 100m and 200m sprint titles.

Capped by three countries in one year

In February 2023, Rodríguez was included in the England U-15 squad for the first time and scored twice on his debut in a friendly against Belgium at St George’s Park, playing on the left wing. The following month, he made his debut for the Southampton U-18 team in the U-18 Premier League, coming on at half time to replace Isaac Bailey in a 5-2 defeat to Fulham at Motspur Park in south-west London.

A set of Portuguese grandparents are the source of his eligibility to play for Portugal and news of his growing reputation had already reached the Portuguese Football Federation headquarters in Oeiras on the outskirts of Lisbon. They were keen to involve Rodríguez in their setup and summoned him into their U-15 squad in April 2023. He made three appearances for them in friendly matches later that month, but hasn’t returned to the Portugal squad since then.

Rodríguez became a regular in the England U-16 squad for the 2023-24 campaign, scoring his first goal for them in a defeat to Italy in August and adding another six goals to his youth international tally in nine further appearances by the end of the season. That run was punctuated by a brief dalliance with the Venezuela U-17 team in September 2023, when he featured as a late substitute for them in a friendly win in Turkey. As you can see, he’s clearly open minded about his future international allegiance.

Goals galore in youth leagues

At club level, Rodríguez got a lot more playing time in the U-18 Premier League that season (10 appearances, two goals) and also made his debut for Southampton U-21s in the Premier League 2. Aged just 15 years, 10 months, and 1 day, he scored an equaliser in a 3-2 defeat to Tottenham in January 2024, becoming the second youngest scorer in the history of the Premier League 2, behind only Brighton’s Harry Howell, a teammate from the England youth squads.

At the end of his second season with the Saints, Rodríguez transferred to Lyon in France, initially joining their ‘B’ team. It was an adventurous move for a sixteen year old non-French speaker, but he’s fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese so should have no trouble picking up a new language and Lyon is a great place for promising young footballers to further their career. He’s clearly a player who knows his own mind as, upon joining Lyon, he informed them that he wants to play as a striker, having been primarily used on the wing at Southampton.

During his first season with Lyon, Rodríguez spent the majority of his time playing for the reserve or ‘B’ team in the Championnat National 3 Groupe I. In that competition he made fifteen appearances (eight starts) and scored five goals as they finished third in the table. He also made three appearances for the U-19 team playing in the Championnat National U19 Groupe B, scoring on each occasion. He kept up that scoring rate with four goals in four games in the Coupe Gambardella where they made it to the Round of 16 and a penalty shoot-out defeat to Bastia U-19.

First team debut and U-17 Euros

Towards the end of the season, he was rewarded with his first involvement in the senior Lyon squad and a place on the bench for their Europa League Quarter-Final First Leg tie at home to Manchester United (2-2). He was subsequently on the bench for a couple of Ligue 1 matches before coming on to make his debut in a 2-1 defeat to Lens at the Groupama Stadium on the 4th of May 2025. He replaced Nemanja Matic for the final nineteen minutes of the match.

Internationally, Alejandro Gomes Rodríguez stuck with England for the entirety of the 2024-25 season, following his earlier flirtations with Portugal and Venezuela. He primarily represented the U-17s in friendlies and European Championship Qualification matches but did also make his debut for England U-18s in a friendly against France.

He travelled to Albania with the U-17 squad for the UEFA Under-17 Euros in May 2025 and started all three of England’s Group B matches. His goal in the 12th minute gave England the lead in their opener against Belgium but they were eventually held to a 1-1 draw by the Belgians. Rodríguez then scored a brace against a strong Italian team in the second fixture, but it was in vain as England lost 4-2. He was on the scoresheet again in the final match against the Czechs and this time England won 4-2, but they just fell short of qualification for the semi-finals on goal-difference by a single goal.

Rodríguez had missed a couple of good chances against the Czechs that might have taken England into the last four of the competition, but his four goals made him second top scorer in the tournament, behind the Italian Samuele Inacio. England’s shortcomings were mainly at the other end of the pitch with a shaky defence.

Bright future

Alejandro Rodríguez can expect more opportunities in the Lyon first team next season under Portuguese manager Paulo Fonseca, especially now that legendary striker Alexandre Lacazette has announced his departure from the club. If he continues to develop on his current trajectory then both Olympique Lyonnais and England can look forward to exciting times ahead. He’s skilful, with quick feet, sharp on the turn and possesses rapid acceleration. He has a knack for finding space in a crowded penalty area and will be a real handful for any defenders who come up against him.

Rafael Pereira da Silva – Player Profile

Rafael Pereira da Silva is one half of a pair of Brazilian twins who joined Manchester United aged just seventeen in January 2008. He and his twin brother Fabio had been on the books of Rio de Janeiro based club Fluminense since they were eleven years old, but had yet to represent the first team.

They had both, however, already won caps for the Brazilian national U-17 team and represented their country at the 2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup in South Korea. Indeed Fabio captained the team and scored three times in their opening Group B wins against New Zealand (7-0) and North Korea (6-1) before they lost 2-1 to England in the group decider. They were eliminated in the second round with a 1-0 defeat to Ghana.

Rafael integrated the senior Manchester United squad for the start of the 2008-09 season and Sir Alex Ferguson handed him his debut in a pre-season friendly win against his son Darren Ferguson’s Peterborough United. Six days later he was on the bench at Wembley for the Community Shield. He remained an unused substitute during the 0-0 draw against Portsmouth but the subsequent 3-1 win on penalties gave him his first medal in English football. Plenty more were to follow.

As reigning English and European champions, United were competing on many fronts that season. Rafael wasn’t involved in the European Super Cup defeat to Zenit at the end of August, but by then he had already made his Premier League debut. He soon began to get regular first team action, competing with thirty-three-year-old club captain Gary Neville for the right-back spot.

Trophy-laden first season

Rafael went on to make sixteen Premier League appearances that season, including twelve starts, as United retained their title finishing two points ahead of Chelsea. His first United goal came as a late consolation in a 2-1 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in early November. United won their Champions League group in the Autumn and then travelled to Japan just before Christmas to play in the FIFA Club World Cup. Rafael was a starter in the final against LDU Quito of Ecuador and helped keep a clean sheet despite Nemanja Vidic’s red card just after half time. A Wayne Rooney goal gave United a 1-0 win and the right to call themselves world champions.

They continued to go from strength to strength in the second half of the season, winning the League Cup at Wembley with a penalty shoot-out victory against Spurs, although Rafael missed the final due to an ankle ligament injury, having featured in all the previous rounds of the competition. He was fit again by mid-April, in time for the title run-in and final stages of the other cups as United chased an unprecedented quintuple.

Wembley woes follow Wembley win

Back at Wembley, Rafael played the full 120 minutes of the goalless FA Cup semi-final against David Moyes’ Everton. It was the first time that he and his brother Fabio started a match together for United, but unfortunately they suffered the heartbreak of a penalty shoot-out defeat. They bounced back from that disappointment with a two-legged dismissal of Arsenal in the Champions League semi-finals to set up a final against the mighty Barcelona at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. Irishman John O’Shea got the nod ahead of Rafael for the right-back slot against Barça, so he had to watch from the bench as his team mates went down 2-0.

Nevertheless, it was a fine first season for the Brazilian, with 28 appearances across all competitions and four trophies in the bag. He was also shortlisted for the PFA Young Player of the Year award, but ended up missing out to Aston Villa’s Ashley Young, who would soon become his team mate at Old Trafford.

Villa vanquished and League Cup retained

The 2009-10 season proved to be much less successful for both Rafael and Manchester United. Injuries and form restricted him to only sixteen appearances across all competitions as United failed to retain their title, finishing a point behind Chelsea. There was, however, a comic case of mistaken identity when his twin brother, Fabio, was booked for a foul that Rafael had committed by in a League Cup match against Barnsley.

That League Cup campaign was the highlight of the season and Rafael was in the starting line-up for the two-legged semi-final victory over rivals Manchester City and for the final itself against Aston Villa. Back at Wembley once again, United fell behind early on but quickly drew level through Michael Owen before Wayne Rooney scored a second half winner. Rafael was replaced by club captain Gary Neville at right-back just after the hour mark.

An up and down two years

Yet another trophy followed in the 2010-11 season as United recaptured the Premier League title, finishing a resounding nine points ahead of Chelsea. On a personal level, it was a much more consistent campaign for Rafael during which he managed 28 appearances for the Red Devils and was included in the Brazil squad for the first time by coach Mano Menezes. United made it all the way to the UEFA Champions League final against Barcelona at Wembley Stadium, but Rafael wasn’t included in the squad for the occasion, having only recently returned from a hamstring injury. He had to watch the 3-1 defeat from the stands as his brother was preferred for the right-back slot.

Having turned 21 during the inter-season break, Rafael featured as a substitute in the 2011 Community Shield win against Manchester City (3-2), but didn’t make a Premier League appearance until New Year’s Eve. He also sat out the whole of United’s dismal 2011-12 Champions League campaign. He got a bit more game time during the second half of the season but only mustered 18 appearances in all competitions. The title race went down to the wire, but United were dramatically pipped by Manchester City on the final day and had to relinquish the trophy.

Olympic Medallist in London

Less than a fortnight after that disappointment, however, Rafael had the honour of making his debut for the Brazil national team in a 3-1 friendly win against Denmark at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg. He played the last 18 minutes as a substitute for Danilo. Two weeks later, he got his second (and final) cap in a friendly against Argentina at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. This time he was in the starting line-up but ended up on the wrong end of a 4-3 thriller.

Despite that match marking the end of his career with the full Brazilian national team, Rafael did go on to enjoy more international football that summer as he was included in the Brazil squad for the London 2012 Olympic Games. Officially an U-23 tournament, each country was allowed to select three over-age players. With Thiago Silva, Marcelo and Hulk as their over-age picks and rising stars such as Neymar and Lucas Moura in the squad, Brazil were hotly tipped as one of the pre-tournament favourites.

Rafael started every match for the Seleção and even scored their opening goal of the competition in a 3-2 win against Egypt at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. They progressed serenely to the final at Wembley, where they faced Mexico, but it proved to be a bridge too far. A brace from Oribe Peralta put the Mexicans two goals ahead and Brazil could only manage a late response through Hulk, so they had to settle for the silver medals.

A third league title

A new four-year contract and the number two shirt vacated by the now retired Gary Neville were the reward for the maturing Rafael ahead of the 2012-13 season. This was the first campaign during which he really made the right-back slot his own, with forty appearances across all competitions and three goals. It was Sir Alex Ferguson’s last season in charge of Manchester United and he masterminded their charge to the title, finishing eleven points clear of Manchester City. That was to be Rafael’s third and final Premier League winner’s medal.

The following season under David Moyes was a disappointment with United failing to mount a serious defence of their title and slumping to a seventh place finish. Rafael suffered a series of minor injuries that restricted him to just 29 appearances. The 2014-15 campaign was even worse from his point of view as a groin strain followed by a fractured fibula and then a fractured rib kept him on the sidelines for prolonged periods under new manager Louis Van Gaal.

Initially Rafael did appear to be part of the Dutch manager’s plans, and he was given a run of six consecutive Premier League starts in September and October before the injuries took their toll. Briefly fit again over the festive period, he made his final United start in an FA Cup Third Round tie at Yeovil Town before another two month hiatus. His final United appearance was as a late substitute in a 3-0 Premier League win against Tottenham at Old Trafford on the 15th of March 2015.

Old Trafford Exit: Destination Lyon

The Ecuadorian winger Luis Antonio Valencia had by now been converted to a right-back and was ahead of Rafael in the pecking order so, with one year remaining on his contract, the Brazilian was allowed to leave the club in the summer of 2015. Having made 170 appearances and scored five goals for Manchester United over the course of seven seasons, he signed for Olympique Lyonnais for €3.2 million a few days after his 25th birthday.

Lyon manager Hubert Fournier put Rafael straight into the first team for the opening Ligue 1 fixture of the season, against Lorient at the Stade de Gerland. He played in his natural right-back position and helped his new team to a clean sheet in a goalless draw. A hamstring injury caused him to miss a few matches in September and October but he came back with a bang, scoring his first goal for Lyon on his return in a 1-1 draw at Monaco.

Despite Rafael’s efforts, Lyon struggled during the first half of the season, finishing bottom of their Champions League group and were languishing in ninth place in Ligue 1 at Christmas. As a consequence, Fournier received his marching orders and was replaced as manager by Bruno Genesio.

That wasn’t the only major change at Lyon during the winter break. The newly constructed Groupama Stadium was ready for the start of 2016, so the team had a shiny new home for the second half of the season. Unfortunately, injuries kept Rafael out of both the final match at Gerland and the opening game at the Groupama. He was back in action by late February and helped Lyon put together a ten-game unbeaten run to secure second place in Ligue 1 and Champions League qualification.

Life in Ligue 1

The 2016-17 season would prove to be Rafael’s most consistent campaign in a Lyon shirt. He enjoyed a largely injury free season and racked up 41 appearances across all competitions. It wasn’t a particularly memorable domestic campaign, with Lyon finishing fourth and exiting both cup competitions in the early rounds, but they did perform impressively in Europe. A third place finish in their Champions League Group saw them drop into the Europa League where they swept aside AZ Alkmaar, Roma and Besiktas before narrowly losing out to Peter Bosz’s Ajax in the semi-finals.

There was increased competition for Rafael’s first-team place in the 2017-18 season following the arrival of Dutch right-back Kenny Tete from Ajax. As a consequence, Rafael found himself on the bench for much of the first half of the season, before regaining his starting place in January. In the end, he made a respectable 31 appearances in all competitions as Lyon finished third to get back into the Champions League, but failed to make any impact in the cups.

The 2018-19 season began well enough for Rafael. He was a regular starter in the first team once again and even made a triumphant return to Manchester on matchday one of the Champions League group phase. He kept Raheem Sterling quiet in a memorable 2-1 win for Lyon at the Etihad Stadium, which set them on course to qualify for the knockout stage.

Facing Fabio: égalité, fraternité

On the 29th of September, a small piece of history was made when he came up against his twin brother Fabio for the first time in a competitive match. Fabio had recently signed for Nantes and was playing at right-back for them when they visited the Groupama Stadium for a Ligue 1 encounter. Rafael started on the bench but entered the fray in the 75th minute with the score at 1-1. The twins shared the pitch for nineteen minutes before Fabio was himself replaced in stoppage time, and it finished a goal apiece.

Rafael’s run in the team came to an abrupt halt in late November when he was sent off for a rash challenge on Saint-Étienne’s Yann M’Vila in the 72nd minute of a 1-0 derby win at the Groupama Stadium. He was subsequently injured and didn’t feature again until the 3rd of March. In fact, he only featured in the starting line-up three times in the second half of the season, bringing his total to a meagre 18 appearances (including eleven starts) in Ligue 1 for 2018-19, as Lyon again finished third. He did, however, sign a two-year contract extension in the close season.

Covid curtails chaotic campaign

The 2019-20 season would prove to be Rafael’s swansong at Lyon and it began with the club in a state of flux. Bruno Genesio had moved on from his post as manager at the start of the summer and his surprise replacement was the Brazilian Sylvinho. It was Sylvinho’s first job as a head coach and his inexperience was quickly exposed. A poor run of form in Ligue 1 meant that the pressure was mounting ahead of a trip to Saint-Étienne for the derby in early October.

Rafael had yet to feature in the team under his compatriot prior to that fateful trip to the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, but he was handed a start as a right wing-back against Les Verts. Lyon were still holding on to a goalless draw when he was replaced with Kenny Tete in the 70th minute, but they suffered the last minute hammer blow of a Saint-Étienne winner that sealed the fate of Sylvinho after only eleven games in charge.

Rudi Garcia was swiftly brought in as a replacement and he soon steadied the ship, with Rafael getting a run of appearances in the league. Lyon had been slowly but surely climbing the table before the Covid-19 pandemic sent France into lockdown and Ligue 1 was suspended after matchday 28 on the 8th of March 2020. Controversially, and in contrast to most other European countries, the French authorities ultimately decided to abandon the season at that point rather than complete the schedule at a later date. Therefore, Lyon were denied the chance to resume their climb up towards the European qualification spots and had to settle for seventh place in the frozen table.

Leaving Lyon: almost a glorious finale

Fortunately the cup competitions did eventually recommence and Lyon had been faring much better in knockout football that season. They reached the semi-finals of the Coupe de France where they faced PSG in what turned out to be Rafael’s final home appearance for the club. Sadly, they were hammered 5-1 on that occasion but they did still have the final of the last ever Coupe de la Ligue and the last sixteen of the Champions League to look forward to.

After a hiatus of four and a half months, a lull in the pandemic at the end of July finally enabled the resumption of competitive football. PSG were the opponents again for the final of the Coupe de la Ligue with only 5,000 spectators allowed into the Stade de France. Rafael started on the bench, but came on for Léo Dubois in the 86th minute with the game still goalless. He helped preserve the clean sheet through extra time and take the game towards penalties before receiving a very harsh red card for a foul on Ángel Di María in the 119th minute.

Unfortunately Lyon lost the resultant penalty shoot-out 6-5 and it proved to be Rafael’s final appearance in Lyon colours. A disappointing way to end his five years at the club. There was still the small matter of the Champions League final stages. Lyon saw off Juventus and Manchester City before valiantly losing to Bayern Munich in the semi finals, but Rafael remained on the bench during those encounters. Therefore, he signed off from Lyon with a grand total of 139 appearances and two goals.

Going to Turkey and returning to Old Trafford

In September 2020 he moved to the Turkish capital, to join reigning Süper Lig champions İstanbul Başakşehir on a free transfer. He signed a two-year contract with the option for a third year. Manager Okan Buruk handed Rafael his debut as a late substitute in the opening Süper Lig match of the season against Hatayspor. He went on to make a total of 21 league appearances despite a series of injuries that greatly restricted his availability in the second half of the season.

Başakşehir finished a disappointing twelfth in the league and didn’t fare any better in their first ever Champions League group phase participation. They were drawn into a tough group alongside RB Leipzig, PSG and Manchester United and unsurprisingly finished bottom of the table. The double-header against United in November 2020 was the first time that Rafael had faced his former club since departing in 2015 and he played the entirety of both matches.

The first, at home in the Başakşehir Fatih Terim Stadium, but behind closed doors due to the ongoing pandemic, produced a 2-1 victory for Başakşehir and ultimately cost United a place in the knock-out phase of the Champions League. Three weeks later, Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s team got a measure of revenge with a 4-1 win on Rafael’s return to Old Trafford, also behind closed doors.

Botafogo bound

Rafael made his final appearance for Başakşehir in a 0-0 draw away at Sivasspor in May 2021 and terminated his contract at the end of the season to return to Brazil and sign for Botafogo. It was a dream move for the thirty-one year old as he’d always hoped to one day represent the club that he supported as a boy in Rio de Janeiro.

At the time, Botafogo were languishing in Série B, having finished rock bottom of Série A the previous season and been relegated. When Rafael arrived, they were half way through the campaign and occupied fourth place in the table. He didn’t get much playing time (just four substitute appearances) in what remained of the season, as the club embarked on a ten game unbeaten run to clinch top spot and an immediate return to the top flight.

Rafael made his first start for Botafogo in the opening game of the 2022 season, a Carioca championship match away at Boavista SC. However, disaster struck just before half time when he ruptured the Achilles tendon in his left foot in a tussle with Boavista defender Diogo Rangel. He underwent surgery that evening at the Barra da Tijuca hospital in Rio and faced at least six months on the sidelines.

Meanwhile, there were some major developments in the boardroom at Botafogo with American businessman John Textor buying the club in February 2022. The Crystal Palace co-owner would soon also add Lyon and RWD Molenbeek to his portfolio of clubs in the Eagle Football Group and played a major role in reviving the fortunes of ‘Fogo’ over the following two years.

Injury woes worsen

The injury kept Rafael out of the remainder of the Campeonato Carioca campaign as well as the Copa do Brasil and the first half of the Série A season. He eventually returned in late August and managed seven appearances as Botafogo finished in a respectable eighth place. 2023 began in a much more positive vein, with Rafael fit and playing regularly in the Campeonato Carioca and then the Taça Rio, which they won 7-3 on aggregate against Audax in early April.

Things were still going well in late June. Botafogo had qualified unbeaten from their Copa Sudamericana group and were on a great run of form in Série A where they sat seven points clear at the top of the table after twelve rounds. However, matchday 13 proved to be unlucky for Rafael as he again fell victim to a serious injury.

Botafogo faced their bitter cross-town rivals Vasco da Gama at the Estádio Olímpico Nilton Santos with Rafael picked in his customary right-back slot by manager Cláudio Caçapa. The game was still deadlocked at 0-0 when Rafael went down in the 31st minute with what was later diagnosed as a ruptured patellar tendon in his left knee. He underwent surgery the following day but faced the prospect of another eight months on the sidelines. During his absence, Botafogo’s title challenge fell away and they eventually finished 5th in Série A.

Retirement beckons

Rafael returned to the Botafogo matchday squad in March 2024, having missed the entirety of the Carioca championship group phase. He was on the bench for the Taça Rio semi-final second leg and then played in both legs of the final as Fogo beat Boavista 6-0 on aggregate to retain their trophy. Three days later, he made his first ever Copa Libertadores appearance, coming off the bench for the last eleven minutes of a 3-1 home defeat to Junior of Colombia in the opening round of the group phase.

In an interview with the Botafogo club podcast in the week following that match, Rafael announced that he would be retiring from football at the end of the season. He cited the huge physical and mental toll that his injury problems had taken over the previous couple of years as the main reason for hanging up his boots. Ironically, he sustained a recurrence of his knee injury just a few days after giving that interview. This time his left patella was itself fractured and he was absent for another eight months.

Glorious Goodbye to ‘O Glorioso’

Sadly, he had to watch from the sidelines as Botafogo enjoyed the best season in their 120 year history. They won the Copa Libertadores for the first time ever, beating Clube Atlético Mineiro 3-1 in the final at the Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires and then they clinched the Série A title, finishing six points clear of Palmeiras. Fittingly, Rafael was brought off the bench in the 90th minute of the final Série A match of the season to make a farewell appearance in front of the Botafogo fans in the Estádio Olímpico Nilton Santos. It was his only Série A action of the season, but he still managed to contribute to a dramatic finale as his team mate Gregore fired home in the second minute of stoppage time to turn a 1-1 draw into a 2-1 home win.

And so, after a career spanning more than sixteen years at the top level, the thirty-four year old fullback went out in a blaze of glory with two new additions to his palmarès. His injury woes may have restricted him to a paltry 40 appearances during his three and a half years with Botafogo, but they couldn’t prevent him from finally realising his boyhood dream of lifting a trophy with the team that he grew up supporting.

Legacy

Rafael will be remembered as a combative and energetic fullback, who loved to get forward and support the attack. He had the ability to dribble past an opponent and deliver a decent cross into the box, although his goal output could have been higher – he only managed eight in total. His defending could be slightly erratic at times and he was guilty of a number of rash challenges throughout his career that resulted in eleven red cards and eighty-nine bookings from his 387 senior appearances, as well as several penalties conceded. Nevertheless, the eight major honours that he collected along the way are testament to a distinguished career in the upper echelons of the global game.

Wilfried Zaha – Player Profile

Of the five players to have represented both Manchester United and Lyon, Wilfried Zaha is the one to have left by far the least impression on both clubs. He’ll go down as little more than a footnote in their history, or at most the answer to an obscure quiz question. Not that he wasn’t a fine player, it’s just that his best work was performed elsewhere, most notably at Crystal Palace where he’s something of a club legend.

Born in Abidjan, capital of the Ivory Coast, and christened Dazet Wilfried Armel Zaha, he moved with his family to south London at the age of four. One of eight siblings, he joined the academy of local club Crystal Palace and displayed a prodigious talent for football from an early age.

Teenage sensation at Selhurst Park

Having risen through the ranks, his first team debut came as a seventeen-year-old in March 2010. Palace caretaker manager Paul Hart brought Zaha off the bench as a late replacement for Stern John in a 2-1 defeat to Cardiff City in the Championship at Selhurst Park. He didn’t feature again that season, but soon signed his first professional contract and became a regular starter for them during the following campaign.

Wilfried Zaha’s stock continued to rise and he was a key part of their successful promotion challenge in 2012-13 when they finished fifth and won the play-offs to secure a place in the Premier League. Half way through that season, during the January transfer window, Zaha signed for Manchester United for £10 million plus a potential £5 million of add-ons, but was immediately loaned back to Palace for the remainder of the campaign. He had the distinction of becoming Sir Alex Ferguson’s last signing for Manchester United before the legendary manager retired in summer 2013.

By then, Zaha had already been a regular for the England U-19 and U-21 teams for a couple of years and he won his first call-up to the full England national team under Roy Hodgson in November 2012. His debut came in a 4-2 friendly defeat in Sweden, during which Zlatan Ibrahimović scored all four Swedish goals. Zaha was brought off the bench to replace Raheem Sterling for the final five minutes. His only other cap for England came in an August 2013 friendly against Scotland at Wembley. This time he replaced Theo Walcott for the last fifteen minutes of a 2-2 draw.

A frustrating time in Manchester

Zaha’s Manchester United career began with victory in the FA Community Shield under new manager David Moyes. He started on the right side of attack against Wigan Athletic and played the first 61 minutes before being subbed off for Antonio Valencia with United two goals to the good thanks to a pair of Robin Van Persie strikes. It finished 2-0 giving Zaha the first medal of his career.

Moyes handed Zaha a second start in a 4-0 League Cup win over Norwich City at Old Trafford in October 2013 but he had to wait until December to make his Premier League debut as a substitute for Nani in a 1-0 home defeat to Newcastle United. He did also feature briefly in the next game, a 3-0 win against Aston Villa at Villa Park as a late substitute for Wayne Rooney, but that proved to be the sum total of his Manchester United career. Four appearances, two starts and no goals in a total of 167 minutes of playing time.

There had also been three appearances and one goal for the Manchester United U-21 team, but manager David Moyes just didn’t seem to fancy him as a first team player and decided to loan him out to Cardiff City during the January transfer window, a year after he had first put pen to paper on his United deal.

Loan spells at Cardiff and Palace

Manchester United legend Ole Gunnar Solskjær was the Cardiff City manager at the time and they were struggling against relegation at the bottom end of the Premier League. Zaha made 13 appearances for Cardiff but couldn’t ultimately help them avoid the drop as they finished bottom of the table.

Upon his return to Manchester United, Zaha was once again deemed surplus to requirements by new manager Louis Van Gaal. He rejoined Crystal Palace in August 2014, initially on a season long loan, but the deal was made permanent in February 2015 for a fee of £3 million with the potential for a further £6 million in add-ons.

Peak years back at Palace

Zaha immediately flourished back at Selhurst Park and went on to spend the next nine seasons back at his boyhood club as they consolidated their top-flight status. Playing predominantly on the left side of the front line, he was a persistent goal threat and regular provider of assists for his strike partners. His pace and trickery made him a real handful for fullbacks up and down the country.

Chosen as Crystal Palace Player of the Year for three consecutive seasons from 2015-16 to 2017-18, and Premier League Player of the Month for April 2018, he also helped Palace reach the 2016 FA Cup final at Wembley. There they faced his former employers Manchester United and came close to causing an upset, taking the lead in the 78th minute before eventually succumbing 2-1 after extra time.

In total, Wilfried Zaha racked up 458 appearances for Crystal Palace, scoring 90 goals prior to his departure at the end of the 2022-23 season. He had reportedly been a transfer target for several big clubs over the years, but ultimately allowed his contract to run down so he could leave on a free transfer. By now aged thirty, his peak years were perhaps behind him and he didn’t receive a satisfactory offer from a club in any of Europe’s big five leagues.

Turkish delight

In late July 2023, it was announced that Zaha had signed a contract with Turkish Süper Lig side Galatasaray worth a reported €4.35 million a year in wages. He hit the ground running in Turkey, scoring ten goals in all competitions as Galatasaray romped to the title under manager Okan Buruk, amassing an impressive total of 102 points.

They also collected the Turkish Super Cup title with a 3-0 win against Fenerbahçe, so Zaha was finally able to add to his hitherto sparse personal honours list. He also got his first taste of Champions League football that season and even managed to score at Old Trafford in a 3-2 group stage win against Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United.

Textor’s transfer gamble

Despite the apparent success of his season with Galatasaray, Zaha was on the move again the following summer when a surprise loan to Olympique Lyonnais was announced on transfer deadline day. Lyon paid a considerable fee, rumoured to be around €3 million to secure his services for the 2024-25 season.

It was widely seen as something of a vanity transfer that Lyon’s American owner John Textor may have desired in order to put his own stamp on the squad and win over sceptical fans by landing a big name. Textor would have been familiar with Zaha due to his 45% stake in the ownership of Crystal Palace and would have had the necessary contacts to make it happen.

However, the transfer seemed to take manager Pierre Sage by surprise. Lyon were already replete with options in the wide attacking areas but were crying out for reinforcements in central defence or midfield, so the move left the squad feeling a bit unbalanced. Sage didn’t seem to fancy Zaha and wasn’t inclined to disrupt his formation or tactics to accommodate him, so the former Palace man became something of an expensive white elephant on the Lyon bench.

Lesser spotted in Lyon

His Lyon debut came in the UEFA Europa League on the 26th of September 2025 when he came on for Malik Fofana in the 67th minute of a match against Olimpiakos at the Groupama Stadium. Rayan Cherki had just opened the scoring for Lyon and Zaha had an instant impact, laying on an assist for Saïd Benrahma to double the advantage a few minutes later. Lyon ran out 2-0 winners.

Zaha’s first and only start for Lyon came three days later when they travelled to Toulouse in Ligue 1, but this time he was replaced by Fofana in the 53rd minute with the score at 1-1 and Fofana went on to score a late winner. He had to wait until late October for another run out, this time in a Europa League tie against Besiktas. He played the last twenty minutes but couldn’t help overturn a 1-0 deficit. Another short cameo in Ligue 1 followed three days later when he came on for the final few minutes of 2-2 draw against Auxerre, but again couldn’t influence the result.

Moving on to MLS

His final two Lyon appearances came in Ligue 1 victories against Saint-Étienne and Angers in November and December respectively, but they were so fleeting that he was only on the pitch for a total of five minutes across the two games. It was clear that things weren’t working out at Lyon, so they decided to cut their losses and terminate the loan deal when the January transfer window opened.

Zaha’s final Lyon stats of 6 appearances, one start and no goals in a total of 112 minutes of playing time were eerily similar to his output at Manchester United all those years ago. Despite his obvious talent, some managers just seem reluctant to deploy him. Maybe they view him as something of a luxury player.

Galatasaray arranged a further loan, this time to Charlotte FC in America’s MLS where so far he’s been playing ninety minutes every week and has two goals from six appearances. There’s an option to extend the loan until June 2026 so it looks as though he may not be returning to Turkey.

A second chance at international football

Finally, it should be noted that Wilfried Zaha’s international career didn’t end with those two caps that he earned for England in 2012 and 2013. In late 2016, having been repeatedly overlooked for England squads, he decided to switch his international allegiance to the Ivory Coast. He made his debut for The Elephants in a 2-1 friendly win against Sweden in Abu Dhabi in January 2017 under manager Michel Dussuyer.

Zaha has gone on to amass over thirty appearances for the Ivory Coast, scoring four goals, and has appeared at the Africa Cup of Nations finals on three occasions: in 2017 in Gabon, in 2019 in Egypt where they made the quarter-finals, and in 2021 in Cameroon. (The 2021 finals actually took place in January 2022).

Anthony Martial – Player Profile

Les Ulis is a working class new town that was built not far from Paris in the late 1970’s. It has produced such luminaries as Thierry Henry and Patrice Evra, but was starting to look and feel a bit run down by the mid-1990’s. That’s when a couple of Guadeloupean origin welcomed a young boy into the world who they named Anthony Jordan Martial. He grew up in the tower blocks of the Bergères quarter and spent his early years playing football in the streets and local parks with his brothers and friends.

Naturally, Anthony Martial joined the local club, CO Les Ulis, when he turned six and he spent eight years in their ranks before scouts from Olympique Lyonnais convinced him to move south and join their renowned youth setup. By then his older brother Johan was already a professional footballer with SC Bastia in Corsica and the prodigious young Anthony was hotly tipped to follow in his footsteps.

In August 2012, aged just sixteen and nine months, he signed his first professional contract and integrated the first team squad at Lyon, having already been a regular member of the France U-16 and U-17 squads over the previous two seasons. The following month, he scored on his debut for the France U-18 team in a 4-1 friendly win against Austria.

A short-lived career at Lyon

Erstwhile Lyon manager Rémi Garde made Anthony Martial wait until December for his club debut in a Europa League match against Israeli outfit Kiryat Shmona at the Stade de Gerland. Lyon had already wrapped up first place in the group ahead of this final fixture, so Garde rotated the line-up and rested most of the first team regulars. Martial was named among the substitutes and he got his chance to come off the bench after eighty minutes. Wearing the number 50 shirt, he replaced Yassine Benzia, whose goal had made it 2-0 to Lyon. Martial led the line for the final ten minutes but couldn’t add to the score as it finished 2-0 to Les Gones.

On the 3rd of February 2013, Martial was brought back into the matchday squad by Garde for a trip to Ajaccio. Lyon were trailing 2-1 at the Stade Michel-Moretti when Martial was summoned from the bench to replace Rachid Ghezzal with eleven minutes remaining, Unfortunately his Ligue 1 debut didn’t precipitate a comeback. A late Adrian Mutu penalty made it 3-1 to Ajaccio and Martial picked up the first booking of his career in stoppage time.

He wasn’t called upon again until a trip to Montpellier in mid-April where he came on for Steed Malbranque in the 68th minute with the match poised at 1-1. This time he did contribute to a Lyon victory thanks to Clement Grenier’s injury time winner. The following month, Martial made his fourth and final Lyon appearance in the penultimate home game of the season against Paris-Saint Germain. PSG were leading 1-0 courtesy of a Jeremy Menez strike when Martial was brought on to replace Benzia in the 76th minute. Try as he might, he couldn’t help Lyon muster an equaliser and they ended up losing 1-0 to Carlo Ancelotti’s PSG, who were confirmed as Ligue 1 champions that evening.

Surprise Sale to Monaco

Anthony Martial was now a regular goalscorer for the French U-18 team and rated as one of the hottest prospects in French football. Lyon supporters were rightly excited about his potential but in July 2013 the seventeen-year-old was surprisingly sold to AS Monaco for €5 million. Club president Jean-Michel Aulas declared that the club urgently needed the transfer income. Therefore, Martial’s career with Lyon amounted to a total of just 57 minutes across four matches, with no goals or assists.

That summer, Martial represented France in the UEFA U-19 Championships in Lithuania, where they made it all the way to the final. Starting on the left side of attack, alongside his now former Lyon team mate Benzia, they faced Serbia in the title decider, but the French forwards drew a blank in a 1-0 defeat. Despite that disappointment, Martial was included in the “team of the tournament” selected by the UEFA technical team.

During his first season at Monaco, Martial was used sparingly by coach Claudio Ranieri, but he really made an impression in the following campaign under Leonardo Jardim. He made 48 appearances across all competitions in 2014-15 and finished as the club’s top scorer, with 12 goals, ahead of the likes of Bernardo Silva and Dimitar Berbatov.

Multi-Million Pound Move to Manchester

By now Anthony Martial was rated as one of the top young talents in Europe, and Manchester United moved to take him to Old Trafford in September 2015. The fee of £36 million plus a potential £21.6 million of add-ons made him the most expensive teenager in history at the time, and he’s still in the top ten of that list ten years on.

Martial would spend a total of nine years at Manchester United, playing under Louis Van Gaal, José Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, Ralf Rangnick and Erik ten Hag. He got off to a quick start, scoring four goals in his first four games and won the Premier League Player of the Month award for September 2015. He also picked up the ‘Golden Boy’ award, which is given to Europe’s best U-21 player as decided by a panel of sports journalists.

The first five seasons of his United career were by far his most productive. He reached double figures for goals in all but one of them, and won the FA Cup, Community Shield, League Cup and UEFA Europa League. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to recapture that form in the later stages of his time at United, when he was increasingly plagued by a series of injuries that restricted his availability. He only managed a total of nineteen goals across those final four seasons.

A loan spell at Sevilla in the second half of the 2021-22 campaign, during which he only managed one goal in twelve appearances, failed to rekindle his career, and United allowed his contract to run down to its expiry in summer 2024. He left United with a very respectable 90 goals in 317 appearances to his name, across all competitions.

After a couple of months without a club, he eventually signed for AEK Athens in the Greek Super League for the 2024-25 season. Still only 29, he’s finally started to rediscover a bit of form and consistency playing on the left side of their attack and has scored nine goals in twenty-two appearances by mid-April as AEK sit third in the championship play-off table at the time of writing.

Thirty French Caps

Having scored four goals in twelve appearances for the France U-21s, Martial’s senior national team career began in September 2015 when coach Didier Deschamps included him in the squad for friendlies against Portugal and Serbia. He made his debut at the Estádio José Alvalade as a substitute for Karim Benzema in a 1-0 win over the Portuguese.

The following summer, he was included in the squad for Euro 2016, hosted in France, and made three appearances in the tournament, including a cameo in the final against Portugal at the Stade de France. He came off the bench to replace Moussa Sissoko for the last ten minutes of extra time, just after Éder had scored what turned out to be the winner for Portugal.

Martial was in and out of the France squad over the following few years, making a total of 30 appearances for Les Bleus, including sixteen starts and scoring two goals. His most recent appearances to date came in the 2021 UEFA Nations League group stage where he scored against Ukraine. He was in the squad for the finals and collected a winners’ medal, despite remaining on the bench during the final against Spain.

Jordan Veretout – Player Profile

French international midfielder Jordan Veretout joined Olympique Lyonnais from Marseille in September 2024. The transfer fee was reported as €4 million plus add-ons. He signed a contract tying him to the club until June 2026 and was handed the number 7 shirt.

Veretout, who was thirty-one years old at the time, has six French caps to his name, which have brought him a UEFA Nations League title and a World Cup runners-up medal. His only club title to date is the 2021-22 UEFA Conference League, which he won with Roma.

Due to his previous association with Lyon’s bitter rivals Saint-Étienne and Marseille, he wasn’t the most popular of arrivals amongst the supporters at the Groupama Stadium and will have to work harder than most to earn their affection. However, his wealth of experience makes him a useful addition to the squad.

Starting out at Nantes

Jordan Veretout was born in Ancenis in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France, not far from the regional capital, Nantes. Having begun playing football at a local village club, Veretout found his way into the Nantes academy aged ten and steadily worked his way up through the ranks.

By the time the 2010-11 season came along, the seventeen year old Veretout was beginning to make a name for himself in the Nantes U-19 and reserve teams, having already helped the U-19’s reach the Coupe Gambardella semi-finals the previous season. He also received his first call up to a national team squad, when coach Pierre Mankowski included him in the France U-18 selection in October 2010 for a friendly against Greece. He went on to earn six U-18 caps, scoring two goals that season.

Physically slight and small in stature, Veretout was often at a disadvantage against bigger and more muscular opponents. However, his technical proficiency was apparent from a young age and combined with an impressive range of passing it more than compensated for any physical shortcomings. Never the quickest or the strongest, he soon learned to let his feet do the talking.

As 2010-11 drew to a close, with Nantes struggling in the lower reaches of Ligue 2, coach Philippe Anziani handed Jordan Veretout his senior debut as a late substitute in a 3-1 defeat at Sedan. The following season Veretout was a regular for the Canaries under new coach Landry Chauvin, who had replaced Anziani in the close season. They finished ninth with Veretout finding the net on six occasions.

Youth Euro and World Cup Experience

He was also a mainstay of the France U-19 team that qualified for the 2012 UEFA European Under-19 Championship in Estonia. They got off to a great start in the finals, beating Serbia and Croatia but then lost 2-1 to England in the final group game. Veretout had scored the equaliser just after the half hour mark, but Harry Kane nicked a winner a few minutes later. That meant that France faced the defending champions, Spain, in the semi-finals. A brace from Lyon’s Samuel Umtiti made it 2-2 and Paul Pogba equalised again in extra time but the Spaniards prevailed in a penalty shoot-out and went on to retain the trophy.

Nantes got their act together under Michel Der Zakarian in the 2012-13 season and finally achieved promotion back to Ligue 1 with a third place finish. Veretout was a linchpin in central midfield throughout the campaign and was rewarded with a place in Mankowski’s France squad for the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey at the end of the season.

World Champion

No matter what else Jordan Veretout goes on to achieve in football, that U-20 World Cup tournament will undoubtedly remain one of the highlights of his career. He was virtually ever-present as France squeezed through a tough group and then defeated the hosts in the last sixteen with Veretout scoring the fourth French goal in a 4-1 win. They then swept past Uzbekistan and Ghana to set up a final with Uruguay.

The Ali Sami Yen Spor Kompleksi, home of Galatasaray in Istanbul, was the venue for the title decider and Veretout was aligned alongside Geoffrey Kondogbia in central midfield. The two teams cancelled each other out and it finished goalless after extra time. A penalty shoot-out ensued and Veretout converted the second French spot kick himself whilst Alphonse Areola made a couple of saves to clinch the trophy for Les Bleus.

A big money move abroad

Back at Nantes, Der Zakarian guided them to respectable 13th and 14th place finishes in their first two seasons back in the top flight. Veretout really caught the eye in the second of those campaigns, scoring an impressive seven goals from midfield. That form prompted manager Tim Sherwood to pay around €10 million to take him to Aston Villa in July 2015.

Veretout was one of a plethora of new faces at Villa Park that summer as Sherwood revamped the squad. In fact, he was one of three Jordans who arrived from Ligue 1, alongside his compatriot Jordan Amavi from Nice and Jordan Ayew from Lorient. However, the 2015-16 season proved to be an unmitigated disaster for Villa and Sherwood was dismissed in late October with the club sitting at the bottom of the table.

Former Lyon manager Rémi Garde was brought in to try and turn things around but he had little impact and also parted company with the club prior to the end of the season, which ended with Villa finishing rock bottom and getting relegated. Veretout made 29 appearances across all competitions, and was the club’s top assist provider with five, but only tasted victory on five occasions.

Back to France on loan

Veretout was loaned to Saint-Étienne for the following season and prospered back in his homeland under coach Christophe Galtier. He was a regular in central midfield and scored three times in Ligue 1 as Les Verts finished in eighth place. They also enjoyed a run in the UEFA Europa League that ended with a 4-0 aggregate defeat to Manchester United in February.

Saint-Étienne did not have an option to buy Jordan Veretout in their loan agreement with Aston Villa, and he was made available for transfer by the Villans upon his return there in summer 2017. Fiorentina manager Stefano Pioli decided to stump up a €7 million transfer fee to take Veretout to Italy, which would become his home for the next five years.

Serie A stalwart

Veretout enjoyed a fine first season in Florence, making 38 appearances and scoring ten goals in all competitions, which made him the club’s second top scorer behind Giovanni Simeone. His new-found scoring touch, which included a hat-trick against Lazio, helped the Viola to an eighth place finish in Serie A, just outside the European spots. However, the season was marred by tragedy when club captain Davide Astori passed away in his sleep ahead of a match at Udinese in March 2018.

The 2018-19 campaign was much tougher for Fiorentina. They slumped to a 16th place finish and suffered the disappointment of a semi-final exit in the Coppa Italia. Veretout found the net on five occasions in 37 appearances in central midfield and was impressive enough for newly appointed AS Roma manager Paulo Fonseca to to earmark him as one of his first signings upon taking the helm of ‘I Giallorossi‘ in June 2019.

All roads lead to Rome

Veretout initially moved to Roma on loan, but with an obligation to buy, and the move was made permanent the following summer for a fee of €17.5 million. He immediately became a key player for Roma, racking up 43 appearances during that first season in the capital, which made him the club’s most used player alongside Bosnian striker Edin Džeko, who also featured on 43 occasions. Veretout found the net seven times for his new club during that Covid-19 disrupted season as they eventually finished fifth in Serie A.

The 2020-21 season under coach Paulo Fonseca probably goes down as one of the best of Jordan Veretout’s career. Now aged 28, he’s at the peak of his powers, and scores a career high eleven goals in all competitions. His ten strikes in Serie A make him the first French midfielder since Michel Platini to reach double figures in that competition in a single season. Roma finish seventh in Serie A and reach the UEFA Europa League semi-finals where Manchester United once again bring Veretout’s European run to an end, this time with an 8-5 aggregate victory.

France debut and a first trophy

To cap it all off, Veretout received his first call-up to the full French national team squad in August 2021 for a round of World Cup qualifying matches. Manager Didier Deschamps handed him his debut in a 1-1 draw versus Bosnia at the Stade de France in Paris. Veretout started as the anchor in a three-man midfield alongside Paul Pogba and Thomas Lemar. His Roma club mate Džeko opened the scoring for the visitors in the 36th minute, but Griezmann equalised three minutes later. He earned a second cap a few days later as a late substitute in a 1-1 draw against Ukraine.

A month later, Veretout was in the France squad again for the UEFA Nations League finals in Italy. Although he only came on for the last minute of the wins against Belgium and then Spain in the final, it was enough to earn him the first major trophy of his career.

European glory

José Mourinho replaced Paulo Fonseca as Roma manager for the 2021-22 season and continued to guide the club on an upwards trajectory. The squad was bolstered by a host of signings during the summer, including the arrival of future Lyon full-back Ainsley Maitland-Niles on loan from Arsenal. Despite the increased competition for places, Veretout still featured regularly and was the club’s top assist provider as they improved by one position to finish 6th in Serie A.

However, it was in Europe that they really made their mark, with a run to the final of the UEFA Europa Conference League where they met Feyenoord at the Arena Kombëtare in Tirana, Albania. Veretout was named among the substitutes for the final, but he came off the bench in the 67th minute to replace Nicolò Zaniolo. Zaniolo had scored what proved to be the only goal of the game in the first half and Roma ran out 1-0 winners to lift the trophy, giving Veretout his first major club honour.

Nevertheless, Mourinho deemed Veretout to be surplus to requirements in the close season and he was sold to Marseille for €12.45 million. Newly installed Marseille manager Igor Tudor built his midfield around Veretout, who was the only player to feature in every match the club played during the 2022-23 campaign. He contributed five goals and five assists as they finished third in Ligue 1 to qualify for the UEFA Champions League again, having failed to get out of the group stage this time around.

World Cup Finals

Veretout had been on the fringes of the France squad since their UEFA Nations League win in 2021, so he was hopeful rather than expectant of a call up to their squad for the 2022 World Cup, which interrupted the 2022-23 season. Happily, he did make the cut for the group of 25 players that Didier Deschamps took on the plane to Qatar. Playing time was at a premium once he got there, with a 63 minute cameo in the final group game, a 1-0 defeat to Tunisia, his only contribution on the pitch. Nonetheless, he now has a World Cup Runners Up medal to his name following France’s defeat to Argentina on penalties in the final.

Last season was a somewhat turbulent campaign for Marseille as they churned through four managers en route to a disappointing eighth place finish in Ligue 1 and were eliminated from the Coupe de France early on. They crashed out of the Champions League in the qualifying round and dropped into the Europa League, but did at least progress deep into that competition. They reached the semi-finals where they lost 4-1 on aggregate to the eventual winners Atalanta. Veretout again racked up five goals and five assists from his 46 appearances in central midfield.

Olympique transfer

Roberto De Zerbi arrived as the new Marseille manager in June and he didn’t fancy Veretout, who was transfer listed and left out of the squad. He failed to secure a move away from Marseille before the end of the transfer window, but each club in France is allowed one ‘joker’ transfer outside of the transfer window per season, which is how Lyon were allowed to purchase him in September.

Jordan Veretout made a solid but unspectacular start to life in Lyon under Pierre Sage. He was generally deployed as part of a midfield three alongside Nemanja Matic and Corentin Tolisso and he scored his first goal in Lyon colours in the 4-1 win against Nice at the start of December. However, he has fallen out of favour since his former Roma manager Paulo Fonseca arrived at the end of January with the American Tanner Tessmann taking his spot in the starting line-up. Whether on the pitch or on the bench, he brings a lot of valuable experience to the club and has increased the strength in depth of the squad.

Warmed Omari – Player Profile

Warmed Omari is a centre-back who joined Olympique Lyonnais on a season-long loan from Rennes in August 2024. He was brought in on the final day of the transfer window to provide defensive cover in the wake of the departures of Mamadou Sarr, Sinaly Diomandé, Adryelson and Dejan Lovren, which left the squad depleted in that department.

As expected, Omari’s opportunities for first team action at Lyon have been limited, with Moussa Niakhaté, Duje Ćaleta-Car and Clinton Mata preferred to him for a starting role. He had to wait until the trip to Le Havre in October to make his debut, and that was only as an 83rd minute substitute for Corentin Tolisso. At the time of writing, those remain his only Ligue 1 minutes for Lyon.

Omari’s first starts for Lyon came in the UEFA Europa League in November when he played the full ninety minutes in both the away draw at Hoffenheim and the 4-1 win at Qarabag. His only other appearance to date came in the ignominious Coupe de France exit to Bourgoin-Jallieu in January when he played the full ninety plus extra time. Other than that, he has remained on the bench ready to deputise should the first choice defenders become unavailable.

From Mayotte to Brittany via Dijon

Omari was born in the commune of Bandraboua, on the northern coast of the island of Mayotte, a French overseas department in the Indian Ocean. It is situated approximately half way between Madagascar and the Mozambique coast, at the south-eastern end of the Comoros Islands archipelago. He is eligible to represent the Comoros via his parents, as well as France in international football and has recently pledged his future to the Comoros, having previously played at U-21 level for Les Bleus.

Having moved to the French mainland in his early years, Omari began playing youth football for a club in Les Grésilles, a suburb of Dijon. At around the age of ten, he moved once more, this time to Brittany in the west of France. There he joined the junior ranks of local club US Saint Méen-Saint Onen and moved on a couple of years later to TA Rennes, a multi-sports club in the nearby Breton capital.

Through the ranks at Rennes

By now he was on the radar of scouts from local giants Stade Rennais and they duly signed him up to their academy in 2014. He progressed steadily through the age groups and made his debut for the Rennes B team playing in the National 3 Brittany Division (at the fifth tier of the French football pyramid) in October 2018. He made only two appearances for the B team that season, but both resulted in clean sheets and he also turned out for the U-19 team a couple of times in the post-season championship play-offs as they lifted the national U-19 title with a 4-0 thumping of Montpellier in the final.

That triumph qualified Rennes for the 2019-20 UEFA Youth League and Warmed Omari was by now an integral part of their defence as they eliminated Serbian outfit FK Brodarac in the first round. He even captained the team in the second round second leg against Maccabi Petah Tikva as Rennes eased past the Israelis with a clean sheet 3-0 on aggregate. They beat Club Brugge on penalties in the next round, but eventually fell to Internazionale in the last sixteen.

Omari had also become a regular in the Rennes B team for the 2019-20 season and they were handily placed at 5th in the National 3 Brittany table when the season was suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Like footballers everywhere, he was forced into several months of inactivity. However, he had the consolation of signing his first professional contract with Rennes in June 2020.

Breakthrough season

Despite his new ‘pro’ status, Omari had to bide his time for first team opportunities and the 2020-21 season afforded him a meagre three appearances in the matchday squad with no playing time, and just three games for the B team. 2021-22 was destined to be his breakthrough season as, at twenty-one years old, he finally made the step up to the Rennes senior team.

Former Lyon manager Bruno Génésio was the coach who handed Warmed Omari his opportunity at Rennes, and boy did he take it! He made his debut as a late substitute in a 1-1 draw at Brest in the second Ligue 1 game of the season and his first start came on matchday five in a 0-2 defeat to Reims. From there on he was virtually ever present in the starting eleven, helping Rennes to a fourth placed finish in Ligue 1. He also made his European debut, featuring regularly in a UEFA Conference League campaign the ended with defeat to Leicester City at the last sixteen stage.

During the course of that 2021-22 season, Omari notched up his first ever goal in professional football. His 21st minute strike in the Coupe de France fifth round Breton derby clash against Lorient proved to the the matchwinner. Another landmark moment was his first call-up to the France U-21 squad, which came in March 2022. He made his debut in a European U-21 Championship qualifier against the Faroe Islands at the Stade de l’Épopée in Calais, helping to keep a clean sheet in a 2-0 victory. His second cap came four days later in a 5-0 friendly win against Northern Ireland at the same venue.

Injury setback and comeback

Unfortunately for Warmed Omari, he missed the first half of the 2022-23 campaign with a sports hernia injury. His season didn’t really get going until February, but he regained his starting place in the Rennes first team for the remainder of the season and helped them to a fifth placed finish in Ligue 1, making sixteen appearances plus another couple in the Europa League.

Last season (2023-24) was an improvement on a personal level as he put his injury problems behind him and managed twenty-five Ligue 1 appearances, although Rennes finished a disappointing 10th. He picked up a couple of one-match suspensions during the course of the season, the first for a red card and the second for accumulated yellow cards. Coincidentally, those bans kept him out of both fixtures against Lyon, so his future employers didn’t get a chance to look at him in the flesh.

Omari also featured regularly in Rennes’ Europa League campaign that was brought to a halt by AC Milan in the first knockout round and he was ever-present in their run to the Coupe de France semi-finals, where they were narrowly beaten by PSG. That takes us up to the summer of 2024 and his loan move to Lyon, who also secured the option to purchase him for €10 million should they wish to do so in summer 2025.

At the moment, it seems doubtful that Lyon will choose to trigger that option given their parlous financial state and the lack of first team opportunities for Omari thus far, so he may find himself back at Rennes in June. One thing that has turned out well for him this season is his international career. He pledged his allegiance to the Comoros and played in every match of their Africa Cup of Nations qualification campaign. They went through Group A unbeaten to top the group and earn a place in the finals for only the second time in their history, so he’ll be looking forward to lining up for ‘Les Coelacantes‘ in Morocco next December.

Thiago Almada – Player Profile

Argentina international Thiago Almada is the latest player to arrive at Olympique Lyonnais via their association with Brazilian club Botafogo under the shared ownership of John Textor’s Eagle Football Holdings. The twenty-three year old attacking midfielder or winger moved to Lyon during the January 2025 transfer window. He initially joined on loan as Lyon were barred from making new signings by the French financial watchdog, the DNCG, at the time.

Despite his youth, Almada has already accrued a wealth of experience and an impressive trophy haul. In 2024 he helped Botafogo win both the Brazilian championship and the Copa Libertadores, but his career highlight is undoubtedly the 2022 World Cup win with Argentina in Qatar. He is therefore the third World Cup winner in the current Lyon squad, alongside his compatriot Nicolás Tagliafico and Frenchman Corentin Tolisso.

Breakthrough at Vélez

Almada was born in Ciudadela, a suburb of Buenos Aires, in April 2001. He grew up in the nearby Fuerte Apache neighbourhood, a poor, working class, inner city district that has also produced Argentina internationals such as Carlos Tevez and Fernando Gago. Almada showed an aptitude for football at a young age and soon joined local club Vélez Sarsfield, where he would spend the best part of twelve years honing his skills in the youth academy before making his first team debut aged seventeen.

Former Manchester United defender Gabriel Heinze was the Vélez manager who handed Almada his first taste of senior football. He brought him off the bench to replace Lucas Robertone just after half time in a Superliga Argentina match against CA Aldosivi at the Estadio José Amalfitani. Almada made an immediate impact, helping to turn a goalless stalemate into a 2-0 win, not least by taking the free-kick that provided the assist for the second goal.

Thiago Almada was a fixture in the Vélez squad for the remainder of the season. He got his first start and his first goals in a 3-2 defeat at Defensa in November 2018 and went on to amass twenty-two appearances and four goals across all competitions in 2018-19 as Vélez finished sixth in the league. He continued his progression during the 2019-20 season when he made forty-one appearances and scored eleven goals as Vélez managed a third place finish in the Superliga Argentina and got to the semi-finals of the Copa Sudamericana.

Post-pandemic progression

However, the Covid-19 pandemic brought his development to an abrupt halt when football in Argentina was suspended for seven months between March and October 2020. The enforced hiatus played havoc with the competition schedules and league football didn’t resume until July 2021 when the newly formed Liga Profesional de Fútbol launched the new Primera División championship. Almada was now a key player and helped Vélez to a fifth place finish.

In February 2022, by now aged twenty, Almada moved away from Argentina and signed for Atlanta United for $16 million, which represented a record transfer fee for an MLS club. Despite the team’s struggles, Almada enjoyed a successful two and a half years in America on a personal level. He was named MLS Newcomer of the Year in 2022 and nominated for the MLS All-Star game in 2023, when he also picked up the MLS Young Player of the Year award.

A big bucks move to Brazil

Midway through the 2024 MLS season, Botafogo came in with a bid of $21 million for Thiago Almada, which broke both the MLS and Brazilian league transfer records and took him back to South America. He went straight into the first team and made his debut in a Copa do Brasil defeat away at Bahia in August 2024.

His Serie A debut came four days later away at Juventude and, following that 3-2 defeat, he didn’t miss a match for the remainder of the season as Botafogo embarked on a sixteen game unbeaten run to clinch their first league title since 1995, finishing six points clear of second placed Palmeiras.

Palmeiras were also the opposition in the Copa Libertadores, which was at the last sixteen stage when Almada arrived in Rio. He helped Botafogo overcome their domestic rivals 4-3 on aggregate to set up another all-Brazilian clash against São Paulo in the quarter-finals. It was another close fought affair, with the first leg in Rio finishing goalless. Almada gave Botafogo an early lead in the second leg only to see it cancelled out late on. A penalty shoot out ensued, with Almada converting his spot kick to help his team prevail 5-4.

The semi-final against Peñarol of Uruguay was a much more straightforward affair, as Botafogo secured a 5-0 lead at home in the first leg to effectively end the tie. Almada scored their only goal of the second leg in Montevideo, which finished 3-1 to the hosts.

Continental Glory

The final was yet another all-Brazilian encounter, this time against Clube Atlético Mineiro at the Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires. It got off to a disastrous start for Fogo when they were reduced to ten men in only the second minute due to a red card for midfielder Gregore. However, they rallied and managed to take a 2-0 lead into the interval. Atlético struck back at the start of the second period, but couldn’t muster an equaliser and the result was sealed when Júnior Santos made it 3-1 to Botafogo deep into injury time giving them a first ever Copa Libertadores title.

Playing alongside Thiago Almada that day were former Lyon defenders Adryelson and Marçal as well as former Manchester United left-back Alex Telles. All will go down in Botafogo folklore as being among the players who helped to finally end their quest for the much coveted continental title. However, it was to be one of Almada’s final appearances for the club, as he was loaned to Lyon just a few weeks later.

First steps with La Albiceleste

Those two trophies earned with Botafogo undoubtedly represent the highlights of his club career to date, but little can compare with the experience of lifting the World Cup with Argentina in 2022. Almada’s story with his national selection began back in March 2018 when he first appeared as a late substitute for the U-20 team in a friendly against England U-18 at the Joie Stadium (the Manchester City academy ground) in Manchester.

A few more appearances for the U-20s followed that year, which led up to his inclusion in the squad for the U-20 South American Championship in January and February 2019. Held in Chile, the tournament consisted of two group stages with the winners of the second stage taking the title. Almada made six appearances and scored one goal, against eventual winners Ecuador, as Argentina took the runners-up medals.

By the summer of 2021, Almada had progressed to the Argentina U-23 team and was part of the squad that went to the delayed 2020 Olympic Games in Japan in July 2021. However, he didn’t get much playing time as Argentina crashed out in the group stage. A gap of more than a year followed, during which Almada didn’t see any international action, but it was ended by a surprise call-up to the full national squad for a World Cup warm up match in September 2022.

On top of the world

His Argentina debut came as a 54th minute substitute for Papu Gómez in a 3-0 victory over Honduras at the Hard Rock Stadium in Florida, home of the Miami Dolphins NFL team. However, Thiago Almada failed to make the cut when coach Lionel Scaloni announced his squad for the FIFA World Cup finals in Qatar on the 11th of November 2022.

Nevertheless, fate was on Almada’s side as Fiorentina winger Nicolás González was forced to withdraw from the squad due to a muscular injury and then Internazionale forward Joaquín Correa suffered a similar fate. Their misfortune opened up a door to Atlético Madrid’s Ángel Correa and, just four days before Argentina’s opening game, Almada was also added to the squad. At just twenty-one years old, he became the youngest player in their finals squad.

Playing time was very much at a premium for Almada in Qatar, but he was afforded a run out in the final few minutes of the last group game against Poland when he replaced Alexis Mac Allister with Argentina two goals to the good and heading into the knockout stages. Almada remained firmly on the bench as Argentina progressed through the rest of the tournament to lift the trophy but he’ll go down in history as the first MLS based player to win the World Cup.

Olympian twice over

Since then, Almada has made a further four appearances for the national team, and scored his first senior international goal in a friendly against Panama at the Estadio Monumental in March 2023. His first competitive international goal also came at the Monumental in a 6-0 demolition of Bolivia in World Cup qualification in October 2024.

In between those two strikes, Thiago Almada had been busy captaining the U-23 team and scoring regularly for them in the build up to the 2024 Olympic Games in France. A key part of Javier Mascherano’s squad, he found the net twice in his second Olympic tournament, against Iraq and Ukraine, as Argentina progressed to the quarter-finals. There they came up against the hosts in Bordeaux. Playing as a number ten, Almada was unable to unlock a tight French defence and they went down 1-0 to Thierry Henry’s selection, which was captained by Alexandre Lacazette.