Having qualified directly for the Europa League thanks to RC Lens’s victory in the Coupe de France, Stade Rennais are already hard at work preparing for the 2026–27 season. And to do so, they must balance their books whilst managing an operating deficit of €30 million.
In other words, the Bretons are set for a busy summer, marked by a transfer window at the end of which the board hopes to record “around €110 or €120 million in sales”, according to Arnaud Pouille, the club’s executive director.
But not all players will be up for sale, and three are even regarded as virtually untouchable by the 51-year-old manager. “I don’t really like making lists in the press, but certain players like Brice Samba, Esteban Lepaul or Abdelhamid Ait Boudlal won’t be leaving; they know it and their agents know it,” Pouille stated in an interview with Ouest-France.
Offers “beyond belief” would therefore be the only way to get SRFC to reconsider these cases. Which does not seem entirely out of the question, particularly regarding Lepaul, Ligue 1’s top scorer this season, whose name has already been linked with major European clubs in recent weeks.
