Top 5 surprise signings of the summer in Ligue 1 🥷

A comeback wind is blowing (strongly) over Ligue 1.

On Friday, Florian Thauvin followed in the footsteps of Paul Pogba and Olivier Giroud to sign his return to France, after four years of exile.

While waiting to see what the final sprint of the summer transfer market has in store for us, let’s focus on the five most unexpected recruits in L1 so far.

After a failed stint with the Tigers (Mexico) and a successful passage at Udinese (Serie A), “Flotov” is returning home to discover his fifth French club. At 32 years old, the 2018 World Champion is secretly thinking of a return to the French national team? The dream is allowed.

Against all expectations, the Gabonese arrow terminated his lucrative contract in Saudi Arabia (Al-Qadsiah) to facilitate his express return to Olympique de Marseille.

This financial sacrifice does not leave the Olympian people indifferent, already won over to his cause after his memorable passage in 2023-24. Will history repeat itself in 2025-26?

Once is not a custom, a star of the French national team will make his debut in Ligue 1 at the age of 32. After going back and forth between Juventus and Man United since his professional debut, the Pioche will try to regain his superb form in Monaco.

Two major questions remain: his real physical condition after two years of inactivity and his complementarity with the Monégasque midfielders in place.

Look, another member of the OM family! Rongier to Rennes: this is undoubtedly the most controversial transfer of the summer in Ligue 1.

His status as a former talismanic captain of FC Nantes (regional rival) and his biting comments towards SRFC did not please the Rennes Ultras when he signed.

Despite the contentious statements and tweets from the supporters, Rennes still completed this transfer. Against all odds.

Anssumane Fati in Ligue 1, who would have believed it? Given his salary at Barcelone, one could doubt the ability of a L1 club (except PSG) to convince Fati on a financial level.

Without overthinking it, Monaco managed to find the right formula to recruit Fati and Pogba without blowing up their payroll. Hats off, Thiago Scuro!

Honorable mentions: Oliver Giroud (LAFC-Lille), Eric Dier (Bayern-ASM), Otávio (Porto-Paris FC), Saud Abdulhamid (Roma-Lens) and Youssef El-Arabi (free-Nantes).

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇫🇷 here.