EXCLUSIVE | Rennes’ Arnaud Nordin ‘Everyone wants to play in the Champions League. For now, we’re focused on being in Europe.’

Get French Football News caught up with the former AS Saint-Étienne and Montpellier HSC winger to discuss his adaptation to life at Roazhon Park, the club’s upward trajectory, the struggles of his former clubs and his future. You arrived at Rennes in a difficult situation with the manager under pressure (Habib Beye) and quickly replaced (by Franck Haise). How has your integration been within that context, and how do you evaluate your opening weeks at the club?

I handled it well. I was really well welcomed, be it by the technical staff or the medical staff… really everyone welcomed me very well, even the stewards, the kitchen staff. I was also lucky to already know quite a few players, so, as a player, that helps, too.

It has all gone well! From my side, I was looking left and right to see how the club worked, to come to terms, and then slowly but surely you gain in confidence and, naturally, you feel good at this club. Who were the players that you already knew at Rennes?

I already played with Moussa Al-Taamari at Montpellier HSC and I came through the ranks with Mahdi Camara at AS Saint-Étienne. Esteban Lepaul and I also have friends in common so we had already come across each other and talked on multiple occasions and then also Alidu Seidu a bit. On Lepaul, you already seem to have a good connection on the pitch, too… In any case, we have a particular relationship because he is someone that I knew from before coming to Rennes, so he obviously welcomed me really well.