Hamari TRAORÉ

On the 14th June 2017, Stade Rennais officially announced the signing of Hamari Traoré from Reims. The right-back has passed through Jean-Marc Guillou’s Academy in Bamako, and transferred to Rennes for 2.8 Million Euros to provide competition for Romain Danzé, and to consign to history to disappointments of Dimitri Cavaré and Mehdi Zeffane. In his first season, he made the made the position of right-back his own, and made 33 appearances. His first campaign would be crowned with qualification for the Europa League, after he helped Stade Rennais to finish 5th in Ligue 1. In his second season with Rennes, the 2018/2019 would be laden with emotions, with an excellent run in the Europa League, helping the club to reach the Round of 16, and more notably lifting the French Cup. In the final, the Mali international was the man whose cross was turned into his own net by Presnel Kimpembe, to bring the score back to 1-2, on the way to a 2-2 draw with Rennes winning out on penalties at the Stade de France. During the 2019 close-season, he was on the verge of a transfer to Newcastle in a transfer estimated at over 20 million Euros, but club President Létang refused to release him. He would eventually notch his first goal for the club in his 108th appearances for the club, a French Cup tie at Athlético Marseille, and he was a key member of the team that pushed Rennes up to a historic third-placed finish, when COVID-19 brought the season to a premature end, meaning that Stade Rennais qualified for the 2020 Champions League for the first time in their history. The following 2020/2021 season, he would be a mainstay in the team once more, this time ending in a fourth consecutive qualification for European football, this time in the inaugural season of the UEFA Conference League. For the 2021/2022 season, he officially took over the captain's armband, and had his best campaign from a statistics point of view, with 3 goals and 10 assists. At the end of that season, Rennes ended up 4th, and after waving away the attentions of Marseille during the summer transfer window, he would experience yet another record-breaking season in 2022/2023, culminating with a sixth-successive qualification for Europe in his six seasons at the club. Having achieved this one last objective with Stade Rennais, the indispensable defender chose to leave the club, when out of contract, on 9th June 2023, signing for Real Sociedad, having made a total of 239 appearances (of which 88 were as captain) for the Red and Blacks, scoring 6 goals, and providing 22 assists. Traoré will always be remembered as a legend at the club, both for his performances on the pitch, as well as his inimitable personality in the dressing room.