As season 4 begins the T11 Cup is more daunting than ever. With an avg team rating of 37.4 coming into the season the cup draw was sure to be a difficult one. However the cup started off well with a 2-0 victory at the Stade de Rouen. The 2 goal advantage is large but also important is the opponents failure to secure the crucial road goal. Leg 2 is set for this evening.

In Transfer news several new additions to the squad came during the transfer window. The record transfer fee for the club was shattered multiple times when new arrivals to lvl 4 became available on day 2 after the usually busy 1st day saw no action at the top end.

Added to the squad were:
Silvano Ibarra, 18, CB, Ecuador (38 rating, $7.5M value, Fee: $6.81M)
Carlos Esteban Biojo, 18, LW, Ecuador (37 rating, $7.3M value, fee: $6.63M)
Paul Pariseau, 18, DM/WB, France (39 rating, $7M value, fee: $6.36M)
Maxence Honore, 18, GK, France (38 rating, $6.5M value, fee: $5.9M)
Arthur Ngan, 18, ST, Cameroon (38 rating, $6.1M value, fee: $5.54M)
Sherom Kasami, 19, RW, Switzerland (38 rating, $6.1M value, fee: $5.54M)
Antonis Lemonis, 19, DM, Greece (39 rating, $6M value, fee: $5.45M)
Samed Boateng, 19, CM, Ghana (38 rating, $5.7M value, fee: $5.83M)

Boatang was the only one of the 8 that had other offers. Other owners at this level continue to be unwilling to spend at the high end of the market but rather build with cheaper veteran players. Olympique Rouen owner David Grizzle contributed over $38M of his own money to help fund the spending spree as he continues to build a foundation for the next several seasons.


To make room on the roster an equal number of sales were made. While most of those leaving the club accomplished little on the pitch there was the departure of one veteran presence that played a leading role for the club for 1 1/2 seasons. Spanish holding midfielder Raul Mesias left the club for a fee of $1.24M in order to get back to playing first team football after losing his spot in the starting 11 part way through last season to Christian Segreste.

For his career Mesias notched 29 goals and assisted on 6 more while winning man of the match honors on 3 occasions. He provided a rare ability to create scoring chances from his deep midfield role and was a leader off the pitch being named vice captain for season 2.

Other sales:
Felipe Mejia, 19, CB, Mexico ($3.61M)
Vitor Reis, 19, CM, Portugal ($4.39M)
G. Mion Varella Costa, 20, ST, Brazil ($3.47M)
Andre Bonifacio, 20, GK, Portugal ($3.12M)
Daniel Relano, 19, DM/WB, Spain ($2.29M)
Dmitry Kutarba, 27, RB, Russia ($1.04M)
Petr Beran, 20, DM/CB, Czech Republic (pending)