Ligue 1 Review | Frankfurt loanee Elye Wahi brings promise to desperate OGC Nice

Elye Wahi looked far from a likely hero when he agreed to join OGC Nice on a six-month loan from Eintracht Frankfurt on the 1st of January. The 23-year-old striker has had a torrid time since leaving his boyhood club Montpellier HSC for RC Lens in 2023. 

At Lens, Wahi struggled to live up to his potential and fill the void left by Loïs Openda. However, he was able to hit a purple patch near the end of the campaign, which convinced Olympique de Marseille to splash the cash in the 2024 summer transfer window. At Marseille, he would last only 14 games, scoring three times and losing his starting spot to Neal Maupay before he was quickly ushered out the door during the winter window. 

Frankfurt, always attentive to the French market, smelled an opportunity like they had done a year earlier with Hugo Ekitike. However, unlike Eiktike, Wahi never found his feet in Germany. In his 25 appearances, he scored only one goal, the solitary effort coming in the 5-0 rout of amateur side FV Engers 07 in the German cup. For a player bereft of confidence, Nice didn’t look like the ideal landing spot. 

Crisis club Nice

Less than a year after challenging for UEFA Champions League qualification, Nice are in a relegation battle. The crisis runs deep, even though they were able to put a stop to a nine-game losing streak before the end of 2025 with a 2-1 win over AS Saint-Étienne in the Coupe de France. Former president Jean-Pierre Rivère and former head coach Claude Puel have both returned to the team to try to dig them out of a grave situation. 

As Wahi said during his unveiling to the press on new years day, “Nice needs to bounce back, and so do I.” And at Les Aiglons, perhaps Wahi has found something that has been missing in his three transfers since leaving Montpellier: a kindred spirit. His debut in the 1-1 draw with RC Strasbourg on Saturday certainly suggested that he might just be the missing piece to help turn around Nice’s situation.

With Nice chasing a 1-0 deficit at halftime, Puel turned to Wahi, and the loanee made an immediate impact. The feeling around the team immediately shifted. There was a directness and dynamism to the way that Nice could attack. Wahi’s movement and speed meant that he was a constant threat, looking to run beyond the defensive line. And nine minutes into his debut, Wahi found the back of the net. 

Wahi proves there’s still fight left at Les Aiglons

For the first time in months, Nice looked as if they had purpose and belief in their ability to get a result. They were the better team and were unlucky not to come away with all three points against a Strasbourg side that wilted following the introduction of Wahi. And while Frankfurt loanee did show some of the old signs that have made him such a frustrating prospect, including missing a golden chance to score a second and give Nice the lead in the 73rd minute, he’d done enough to give Nice a point. 

A point doesn’t seem much, but when you consider Nice came into this match having lost their previous six Ligue 1 fixtures, a point becomes all the more valuable. Nice will hope that in the coming weeks, it will be considered a starting point for a better half of the season. At the very least, it showed that at desperate Nice, there is still some fight left in the squad.

This Week’s Ligue 1 Subplots

• It was advantage Paris Saint-Germain in the Paris Derby as Paris FC made the short trip across the road to their local rivals. Willem Geubbels’ penalty cancelled out Désiré Doué’s first-half strike, but any sense of parity was short-lived when Ousmane Dembélé scored the winner. Read as it happened HERE.

• Liam Rosenior arrived in London shortly after overseeing Strasbourg’s 1-1 draw with Nice. The English manager is expected to be announced as the new head coach of Chelsea FC. Rosenior has certainly earned his chance in the role, but has the opportunity come too soon for the promising? Read the full story HERE.

• Olympique de Marseille lost further ground on PSG and league leaders Lens with a 2-0 loss at home to FC Nantes. Marseille were undone by red cards to Arthur Vemeeren and Bilal Nadir, in a match that underscored that the club are still not ready to challenge for the Ligue 1 title. Read what happened HERE.