Rennes break transfer record with big signing

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Celtic’s upcoming Europa League opponents Rennes have made a strong statement of intent by smashing their transfer record to sign winger Raphinha.

The Brazilian joined from Sporting Lisbon on Deadline Day for a reported €20million (Football News France) with the Ligue 1 side reportedly beating Spanish giants Sevilla to the signing.

The 22-year-old was just one of many big signings the French outfit made this summer. In total, they spent just short of £48million (transfermarkt.co.uk) with the likes of M’Baye Niang and Flavien Tait also joining the club.

However, Rennes also lost one of their top talents over the course of the window after winger Ismaila Sarr made the £40million switch to Watford. New recruit Raphinha is likely to be viewed as his replacement.

Breaking their transfer record isn’t the only Rennes statement

Rennes have started the new league season pretty well although they did lose their first game at the weekend. Julien Stephan’s side had won all three of their opening Ligue 1 matches, including a 2-1 win over champions PSG, before Nice saw them off by the same scoreline on Sunday.

It will be interesting to see how they react after the international break with the Celtic clash following hot on the heels of their next match away to Brest.

The French side clearly possess some level of quality but it will be interesting to see how seriously they take the Europa League. Teams in the likes of Spain and France are sometimes criticised for not putting their all into the tournament, with their domestic campaigns often taking precedence.

Rennes may have navigated their way out of the group stage last season but it wasn’t a spectacular showing by any means. They squeezed through a pretty desperate group containing Dynamo Kiev, Astana and Jablonec. In fact, it was only two narrow victories over the Czech outfit and a last-matchday win over Astana that saw them through.

From there they beat Real Betis before going out to Arsenal. But as we know, the tournament takes on a different meaning after Christmas. Celtic fans will just be hoping they can capitalise on a few lapses when they travel to Brittany in a fortnight.