Anthony Limbombe, the biggest purchase in FC Nantes history (between 8 and 10 million euros) in 2018, canceled his current contract until June 2024 with the Canary Islands. The end of an incredible sporting and financial stump.
The partnership ended Monday afternoon after a meeting in an office in La Jonelière. At the table on one side are Franck Kita, the club’s deputy general manager, and Blandine Capitaine, the administrative and financial director, and on the other, Anthony Limbombe and his agent. In about ten minutes the story of this Belgian player, who arrived in La Jonelière in the summer of 2018 with the label of the great football hope of his country and the largest investment of the FCN in its history (8.5 million euros), ended in a devious ending.
“Both sides were out of breath. It was a relief on both sides that it was over,” said someone close to the player. A compromise was quickly found. No figure has yet been filtered, but the FCN still had to pay 27 monthly salary (à 82,500 euros gross) and 400,000 euros in bonuses to Anthony Limbombe (total 2.6 million euros) because the player was still under contract until June 2024. imagining the pear is probably cut in half…
Kombouaré didn’t want to see him with his group
The situation had become untenable for the player at FC Nantes for several weeks. The player was excluded from Antoine Kombouaré’s group and had been training with N2’s reserve team since September. He had taken the legal route to assert his rights to be reinstated in the professional locker room. The FCN that had been subpoenaed (several times) by the League’s Legal Commission to allow the player to find Antoine Kombouaré’s group had not bowed. The coach argues in the first place for “a sporting choice”.
At the urging of the LFP, the Kanak coach finally relented and announced on Friday that he would reinstate the player in order to avoid the club’s financial sanctions in particular. “I have no choice but to follow the legal system, I don’t want the club to be sanctioned,” the Nantes coach explained at a press conference on Friday. It’s the setting that matters. Not me, not Limbombe. that we risked a heavy fine and points deduction.”
Finally, Limbombe will not have had time to train with his professional partners [la reprise de l’entraînement est prévu ce mardi]† Yesterday he said goodbye to them
Arriving in Nantes with Mogi Bayat
In Nantes, Anthony Limbombe (we pronounce “é” at the end) will forever rhyme with stomp. In 2018, the player arrives in La Jonelière, accompanied by a fine reputation. The Belgian attacking midfielder has just contributed to the title of Belgian champion of FC Brugge… Premier League club Huddersfield are trying to get him for 13.5 million euros, but a problem related to a commission agent is blocking the deal. Limbombe then changes his representative and talks to Mogi Bayat, very influential in Belgium and especially in… FCN. He, of course, strongly proposes it to President Kita. Miguel Cardoso, together with RMC Sport this Tuesday, validates the player’s profile without knowing him. “President Kita offered it to me, I accepted it!” said the former Portuguese coach of Nantes. The Belgian midfielder’s contract is juicy (1.5 million euros gross per annual salary + a bonus of 300,000 euros per season). The player will sign a five-year lease in the summer of 2018. The beginning of an experience marked by the seal of sporting failure and hassle.
Limbombe in Nantes, an industrial accident
Anthony Limbombe struggles to impose himself on the field. And it’s not easy behind the scenes either. In November 2018, he was arrested by the police as part of an investigation that shocked Belgian football. Justice suspects that the transfer of Limbombe from Bruges to Nantes could have served as “money laundering” of… Mogi Bayat, his agent from whom he will divorce definitively in June 2020. A year after his arrival, in June 2109, Limbombe is loaned (paying loan up to 1.5 million euros) to Standard de Liège (which will cover his salary). Just after leaving Nantes, his apartment is robbed while his partner is present. The loan in Belgium turned out to be a fiasco, the player injured his knee very quickly. Return to the FCN in January 2020. It was then that the player agreed to extend his contract until June 2024, but still had to admit a drop in salary (42,500 gross for the next six months and then 80,000 euros gross until the end of the season ). of rent). Between February and March 2020, the Belgian attacking midfielder played four times with the pros of Christian Gourcuff. The last in Angers (March 7, 2-0 defeat) remains the player’s last encounter with the FCN (season ends due to Covid).
Between repeated injuries (ruptured adductors from August 2020 to January 2021) and failed loan negotiations (at Boavista at the end of August 2021 and Zülte Waregem in January 2022), the great Belgian hopes completely disappeared from the radar. Until finally this contract termination on Monday. “The player has lost a lot of his value, but the FCN has also lost a lot of money with him,” this good friend of Limbombe always confides. According to our estimates, Nantes would have spent at least 15 million euros (transfer + salaries + bonuses) for a player who scored four goals in 38 matches…
