PROFILE | Nicolas Pallois: One of Ligue 1’s “butchers” continues to improve with age | OneFootball

This profile is taken from the 2022 GFFN 100, Get Football’s leading publication to be released at the end of the month, counting down French football’s 100 best players in 2022.

A familiar face in Nantes’ backline, Nicolas Pallois enters the GFFN 100 for the fourth year in a row, a testament to how resilient and composed he has remained in his five and a half seasons in western France. That’s despite the rollercoaster ride Nantes have been on in the past few years – from a relegation play-off win against Toulouse to domestic cup glory last May when the club lifted the Coupe de France.

Often depicted as one of Ligue 1’s butchers, Pallois’s disciplinary record is not as bad as one might imagine. Granted, he receives a lot of bookings, often making double figures, but his average sending-off tally per season is just one and he’s never received a straight red card for Nantes.

2022 has been a success for Nantes, and Pallois played a big part. The disaster of ex-France coach Raymond Domenech’s short reign was halted by the arrival of Antoine Kombouaré who steadied the ship. In the second half of the 2021/22 season, Nantes played a defensive 3-5-2 with Pallois usually deployed on the left side of the back three next to Jean-Charles Castelletto and Andrei Girotto. It was said that Castelletto was brought in to provide competition for the ageing Pallois, who is now 35, but Pallois has proven to be a defensive rock and one of the first players on the Kombouaré team sheet.

With the Coupe de France win, Nantes added European fixtures to a busy Ligue 1 schedule and Kombouaré often rotated before the World Cup break but Pallois was still close to ever-present. Even when Nantes reverted to a back four, Pallois wasn’t benched and instead it was Castelletto who was in contention with Dennis Appiah to play alongside him, while Girotto played in his original and preferred position as a defence-shielding midfielder.

To top it all, Pallois extended his contract by two seasons back in January and, despite nearing the end of his career, 2022 has been one of the defender’s best years yet.