Ligue 1 Review | The Lens rise might be over, bringing disastrous consequences

Few teams across the continent have overperformed like Lens in recent seasons. Two seventh-placed finishes after promotion and a superb runners-up spot, just a point behind PSG in the end last term, amounted to one of the most impressive coaching and recruitment achievements of the last decade. However, Lens’ rise may now be coming to an end, with potentially disastrous timing.

Since promotion in 2020, transfer guru Florent Ghisolfi has expertly unearthed a string of under-the-radar talents helping coach Franck Haise had his team to play aggressive and positive yet solid football. Lens repeatedly hurt teams via a multitude of means: their pacey strikers, a dynamic midfield, and marauding wing-backs, while also finishing last term with Ligue 1’s best defensive record.

Over recent windows, key players such as holding midfielder Cheick Doucouré, wing-back Jonathan Clauss, and centre-back Loïc Badé were sold and replaced with ease while Haise’s team continued on their upward curve. At the centre of the revolution, just as important as Haise and Ghisolfi, was captain Séko Fofana. A destroyer, dynamo, goalscorer, and conductor all in one, Fofana ran Lens’ on-field operation.

This year, however, that triumvirate has been picked apart, and just as Lens seemingly achieved their greatest feat in making the Champions League group stages, results have nosedived. Having won 11 of their final 12 games last season, only losing at PSG, Lens have collected just one point from five games this campaign.

The winter saw Ghisolfi poached by an ambitious Nice outfit, before the summer brought Fofana’s departure for Saudi Arabia. With Haise’s engine removed and without Ghisolfi to conjure a replacement, Haise has, so far, been unable to maintain