Ludovic BAAL

Stade Rennais were looking for an experienced left-back in the run-up to the 2015/2016 season, and signed Ludovic Baal. He was out of contract at RC Lens, and this player - who started out as a winger - had already been approached by Rennes in 2009 to take over from Carlos Bocanegra. On 12th June 2015, he signed a 3-year contract with the Red and Blacks. Underutilised by Philippe Montanier and then Rolland Courbis, he became an intrinsic part of Christian Gourcuff’s team in 2016/2017. On 2nd November 2016, he obtained a year’s contract extension. After a full season, he struggled with the competition of Bensebaini in the 2017/2018 season during the tenure of Sabri Lamouchi, and then suffered a serious injury at Astana in October 2018. He finally returned against Lille for the last game of the season, and the last in his career at Rennes, when Julien Stéphan offered him half-an-hour of game-time to bring to an end his spell at Rennes, who he left on a free as he was now out of contract. At the end of July 2019, he bounced back with Brest, freshly promoted back to Ligue 1.