PROFILE | Florian Thauvin rolls back the years to lead Lens’ title charge | OneFootball

There was a growing suspicion at the start of the season that this could be a complicated year for Paris Saint-Germain. The club had only a few weeks’ respite from a historic treble-winning season that had stretched into mid-July due to the FIFA Club World Cup and the start of a new campaign. There was a sliver of hope for their rivals that this might be the year they slip up and stumble, as Olympique de Marseille and AS Monaco waited in anticipation. 

And PSG have stumbled: three draws and two defeats in the league see them well off their usual relentless pace, but neither Monaco nor Marseille have been able to take advantage with their own inconsistencies emerging. It has been an entirely unexpected team that sets the pace, a team most thought might struggle to even challenge for a spot in Europe. The team at the top of the table at Christmas is none other than RC Lens. And at the heart of this surprising story is Florian Thauvin. 

After leaving Marseille in 2021 for a brief stint in Mexico with Tigres UANL and then settling in Italy, where he became captain of Udinese, Thauvin heeded Lens’s call and returned to his home country this summer. He would be part of a wave of the 2018 World Cup-winning squad that would join a Ligue 1 club, with Olivier Giroud moving to Lille OSC, Paul Pogba arriving at Monaco, and Benjamin Pavard joining Marseille. Of the four, there is no question that Thauvin has made the biggest impact. 

From the moment he was signed, there was a sense that the picture had changed at Lens. In the previous season, the club had toiled in front of goal and scored only 42 times across the entire Ligue 1 campaign, leaving them with the seventh-worst offensive record in the league. They had been bolstered by a defensive record that allowed them to finish eighth, narrowly missing out on European football. 

Thauvin brought a new dimension to the attack; he had the creativity and nous to unlock defences that had previously been shut tight. Already, he has scored five from his role on the right of the front three and assisted two. The numbers don’t tell the full story as these goals have come at pivotal points in recent weeks, allowing Lens to summit the table. A brace against Angers SCO sent Lens to the top, and an opener at FC Nantes helped keep them there. 

Thauvin grows into leadership role

His workrate has been a big surprise for people in Ligue 1, who perhaps have a memory of the more precocious side to him during his various spells at Marseille. His time in Italy has shaped him into one of the hardest-working players, a player who simply does not stop running until the final whistle. As he told the French press, “Beyond my own technical standards, I try to run a lot for the team.” 

Off the pitch, Thauvin has matured into a natural leader in the squad. “I have this big brother role,” he explained. “It develops with age and maturity. It came later to me, but now I feel balanced on all levels during this period of my life. Being abroad helped me grow. Captaincy with Udinese wasn’t easy. Giving a speech in a foreign language isn’t simple. Having experienced these difficulties, when you then return home, it’s much more spontaneous and natural.” 

Thauvin’s time with the France team looked as if it had ended long ago, with his last appearance coming in 2019 during a 4-0 win over Andorra, where he scored and assisted. However, six years later, his renaissance with Lens brought about an unexpected call-up in October when he was drafted in for the injured Bradley Barcola. 

In his first game back with Les Bleus, Thauvin scored off the bench to help France defeat Azerbaijan 3-0. He was then given a start in the 2-2 draw with Iceland. He once again wouldn’t be part of Didier Deschamps’ squad announcement in November, but again he would find himself on the teamsheet when Randal Kolo Muani pulled out of the squad. 

Thauvin ready to dust off the tux

Thauvin admitted, “At one point, I was so far away [from playing for France] that you had to be realistic about the situation, but honestly, when you’re a footballer, you have it in the corner of your mind, especially when you have been involved at one point.” He would go on to say, “It’s true that, bizarrely, it isn’t my first call-up, but it feels like it because I have come through really difficult moments since, so it feels a bit as if it was my first call-up.”

With the 2026 FIFA World Cup on the horizon, Thauvin’s late-career revival has perhaps come at the best possible time. The forward is not in Deschamps’ initial plans, but he has acquitted himself well when the head coach has turned to him in times of need. It wouldn’t be out of the question to suggest that if Thauvin keeps up his high performances with Lens, he will give Deschamps something to seriously consider. 

Ten years ago, during his ill-fated time at Newcastle United, Thauvin was upsetting English sensibilities. The then 22-year-old was asked to turn up to home games in a suit, and so alongside Chancel Mbemba, arrived at St James Park in a full tuxedo. He would be blasted by Alan Shearer on Match of the Day, “He turns up in a tux. This is a serious business we’re in here. It was funny on the first day of the season. It’s not funny anymore.”

Now at 32 and entering the twilight of his career, his maturity, his hard work, and his intense creativity have all taken shape and forged him into a spectacular leader in one of the best-performing teams in Ligue 1. And it leaves you wondering if maybe by the end of the season, he’ll have reason to dust off the old tuxedo. 

GFFN | Nick Hartland