Okou has only made one senior appearance for the Principality club. The centre-back was on the fringes of the squad last season, often making the matchday squad, however, that has not been the case this season. Okou is yet to be included in a matchday squad this season and has featured solely with the club’s Groupe Élite.

Speaking last week, Monaco manager Adi Hütter confirmed that Okou was nearing a departure, “I hope we find a good deal with Yllan Okou because he’s a good player, and if it becomes official, I will be happy for both sides. On one side, the club get a good player, and on the other, the player gets to play. It’s important for Okou and for us,” said Hütter in a press conference, attended by Get French Football News.

Okou announced his departure from Monaco on social media on Sunday before the two clubs confirmed the deal on Monday. The French centre-back joins the Corsican side on a ‘joker’ transfer. Monaco will receive a small fee, as well as a sell-on percentage. 

GFFN | Luke Entwistle 

Okou has only made one senior appearance for the Principality club. The centre-back was on the fringes of the squad last season, often making the matchday squad, however, that has not been the case this season. Okou is yet to be included in a matchday squad this season and has featured solely with the club’s Groupe Élite. 

Hütter, speaking ahead of Monaco’s match against FC Metz, has now provided clarity on Okou’s future, seeming to confirm an imminent departure, without going so far as to confirm Bastia as his eventual destination.

“I’ve said before that we have a big squad. I don’t like to train with 27/28 players when we’re only competing in domestic competitions. If you’re in Europe, you need a bigger squad. I hope we find a good deal with Yllan Okou because he’s a good player, and if it becomes official, I will be happy for both sides. On one side, the club get a good player, and on the other, the player gets to play. It’s important for Okou and for us,” said Hütter in a press conference, attended by Get French Football News.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle

Okou has made just one appearance for the first team, in the Coupe de France against QRM back in January 2022. The Frenchman was on the fringes of the first team for much of last season and was included in many matchday squads, despite not featuring at all in Ligue 1. However, he now seems to have fallen down the pecking order, behind Ritchy Valmé, who won the Coupe Gambardella with Les Monégasques last season. 

Whilst the transfer window is currently closed, French clubs can still make a ‘joker’ transfer. According to Corse-Matin, Bastia have made an offer for Okou, after having shown an interest earlier in the season. The Principality club were unwilling to sanction the move at the time. However, Okou is now nearing a move to the Corsican club. 

GFFN | Luke Entwistle

Photo credit: Luke Entwistle

Ecology and environmentalism have become increasingly prevalent in discussions about how football teams travel to and from matches, especially in France. Former Paris Saint-Germain manager Christophe Galtier came in for considerable criticism last season when he joked that the team would take a sand yacht, rather than a private jet to their away matches. It came in the wake of PSG’s decision to take a jet, rather than a two-hour train, to face FC Nantes. 

Bastia are now coming in for criticism over their mode of transport. The Ligue 2 have already travelled to Corsican rivals Ajaccio ahead of Monday night’s match. Instead of taking the bus, which would take just two hours, Bastia have hired a private jet from Nice, to allow them to then make the 15-minute flight to Ajaccio. As well as the environmental cost of the decision, the economic cost has also been called into question. Bastia have one of the lowest budgets in Ligue 2, and this journey alone will cost them €15,000. 

GFFN | Luke Entwistle

The club said on the proposed move: “We are enthusiastically committed to this new adventure because we strongly believe in digital tools to get closer to our fans and offer them new experiences,” explained Claude Ferrandi, Sporting’s president, in a statement. The creation of a virtual stadium will allow all the fans of our club around the world, who are not lucky enough to live nearby, to participate much more actively in the life of the club. This is definitely the future and we are proud to lead the way.”

SC Bastia join Manchester City in selling their stadium as a digital NFT, with PSG having recently been involved in NFTs on their Japan tour with virtual pre-season tickets. Players have been firmly involved in NFTs throughout football, with Karim Benzema luanching his collection last month – following Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappé, Gerard Piqué, Antoine Griezmann, and Neymar who have all launched themselves into the NFT markets. 

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Having played in the French fourth division with Stade Briochin, Bastia picked up Le Cardinal on a free over the summer of 2019. Having spent the last three years in Corsica, Le Cardinal contributed to Bastia’s double promotions, from National 2 to National (2019/20) and from National to Ligue 2 (2020/21). During his first season in the professional division, the 24-year-old has caught the eye of Paris FC boss Thierry Laurey.

Mohamed Toubache-Ter also reports that the fee has been agreed at €500,000, without bonuses and that the contract will be officially signed tomorrow. The centre-back will then bring competition to the Parisian defence, with Ousmane Camara (who regularly captains the France U19 squad) and Ousmane Kanté performing well last season.

Should the deal go through as reported, Le Cardinal will become Paris FC’s fourth signing of the summer transfer window, following Paul Lasne (33) from Brest, Mehdi Chahiri (25) from Strasbourg and Pierre-Yves Hamel from Lorient.

The Franco-Portuguese striker made a total of 33 appearances last season for Paris FC – who pushed into a play-off position, missing out on promotion in a 2-1 home defeat to FC Sochaux in May. However, only eight of these were starting spots for Alfarela in 2021/22 – who scored five goals in all competitions by predominantly coming off the bench under manager Thierry Laurey. 

Bastia, who finished 12th in Ligue 2 last season, are hoping to strengthen during the summer window – and the former Annecy striker is looking for a new challenge and is hoping to start more games consistently in Ligue 2 next season. 

The Corsican club have already recruited defender Kevin Van Den Kerkhof (26) from Luxembourg first tier side F91 Dudelange already this transfer window. 

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Another recently promoted Ligue 2 side are also rumoured to be interested in the French centre-back, who accumulated 31 Ligue 2 appearances for the Corsican side last season. 

Le Cardinal has spent three seasons at the Ligue 2 side, but enjoyed a breakthrough season last term as his side secured a comfortable mid-table standing at the end of the year. 

Le Cardinal has a certain degree of versatility. Whilst he is accustomed to playing as a centre-back, he is also comfortable in midfield as well as on the right. 

The Frenchman came through the ranks at Guingamp, before moving to Stade Briochin in 2015, where he ultimately made 54 appearances. Since joining Bastia in 2019, he has made 44 appearances, scoring four goals. 

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The catastrophe occurred during a Coupe de France semi-final between Bastia and Marseille, when a temporary stand collapsed and 19 supporters were killed and thousands injured.

As of last year, following a campaign by the victims’ families, no professional matches can be played in France on this date – however, as Marseille’s European semi-final is not a domestic fixture, the law does not apply in this case.

UEFA have nevertheless accepted several requests made by the club to commemorate the anniversary. A black armband will be worn by the Marseille players (and potentially the Feyenoord players as well), while a minute’s silence will be held before the game. Several images will be shown on the stadium’s big screens, while the announcer will read a tribute to the victims as well.

With several hundred Bastia fans having made the trip form Corsica to the North-West, many caused trouble by setting off agricultural bombs before and during the match.

At the final whistle, at which point the scoreline read 2-0 to Nantes, eliminating the Corsicans from the competition, around 20 Bastia fans, who had escaped from their stand, clashed with stewards.

Objects that seemed to be yellow and green chairs were thrown in the direction of the home supporters. The fracas ended after just a few minutes.