Nemanja Matic's desire to leave has completely revived Baptiste Santamaria in Rennes.
Less used since the signing of the Serbian midfielder last summer, the former Angevin has found a starting place associated with Enzo Le Fée, the two forming a very complementary pair in the midfield.
While the Breton club has just enriched its midfield by recruiting the Dutchman Azor Matusiwa for 15.5 million euros (excluding bonus) from Reims, discussions are underway to extend Santamaria whose contract ends in June 2025.
Several sources confirm that the discussions are very positive and should lead fairly quickly to the signing of a new lease for the former Tourangeau.
For the moment, the calendar is not completely fixed but after having initiated a reflection on his future at the club, at the very start of the transfer window, Baptiste Santamaria would therefore have chosen to continue the adventure with the current 10th in the League 1 despite the interests of other teams, particularly foreign ones.
An interest from Naples this winter
In Italy, Naples would have positioned itself on the case of Rennais around ten days ago, a lead which did not go any further but which relaunched the internal debate on its use.
The Italian club had targeted its ability to recover balls while repeating runs before turning to other alternatives.
The transfer market is far from over in Rennes where Clermont's Ghanaian international defender Alidu Seidu is expected to sign while perhaps awaiting other movements.
Apart from the Matic case, Stade Rennais could also come up against the discontent of Lorenz Assignon and his entourage.
The right-back would indeed consider leaving by the end of the transfer window even if the club still told us, this Wednesday afternoon, that it had not received any official offer for the 23-year-old player.