Martin TERRIER

On 6th July 2020, Martin Terrier signed for Stade Rennais on a 5-year deal with a transfer valued at 12 Million Euros with 3 Million in possible bonuses, and 15% of any added-value if sold on subsequently to another club. The striker in the French U21 team arrived from Lyon. He was the first recruit of new Director of Football, Florian Maurice, who had already attracted the player to join Lyon in 2018. His first season was discrete, but promising, scoring 9 goals and responsible for 7 assists, making him the best passer at Rennes in a season which was marked by their first-ever participation in the Champions League, which Terrier had already experienced with Lyon previously. In the 2021/2022, his career took off in earnest under the leadership of Bruno Genesio, scoring 21 goals in the First Division, surpassing even Nonda and Frei for the number of goals scored in a league season. He was given the accolade of Ligue 1 Player of the Month in March 2022, and was placed in the League's Starting XI of the Season by the UNFP (French Professional Footballers Union). He would be courted by Premier League clubs during the summer of 2022, shortly after being pre-selected for the French National Team, but on 24th August 2022, he signed an extension to his contract with a significant increase in wages. Having finished third in the Ligue 1 leading goalscorers' charts in the 2021/2022 season, he picked up for the new 2022/2023 campaign pretty much where he had left off the previous one, scoring 12 goals in all competitions leading at the Christmas break. Alas, on 2nd January 2023, his momentum ground to a shuddering halt, following a cruciate ligament injury on his right knee in a league fixture against Nice at Roazhon Park. He wouldn't return to action for another nine months, and when he did make his comeback - at Villareal in the Europa League group stage encounter - he missed a last-gasp penalty, which would have rescued a point. In the remainder of the 2023/2024 season, he would find the net on nine occasions, and provide four assists in that time, gradually returning to the level that Rennes fans had grown accustomed to. Terrier was a target for a number of European clubs, and he finally left Rennes on 18th July 2024 to sign for freshly-crowned German Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen in a five-year deal worth upto 25 Million Euros (including bonuses) for the Breton club. This superb and stylish player left his mark on the club's history with his clinical finishing, his discretion, his kindness, his iconic darts celebration after each goal, and his love for the club. He will always be remembered with great fondness by Rennes supporters, and will be considered as one of the best strikers to have graced the club.