Walid Regragui targeted by RC Lens to replace Cahuzac

RC Lens officially confirmed Yannick Cahuzac’s departure on Thursday and is now seeking a head coach to turn around a club in serious difficulty in Ligue 1. Among the profiles being studied is that of Walid Regragui, according to Foot Mercato.

Cahuzac paid the price for a catastrophic run of results: a 1-9 home defeat to Como in the Ligue des Champions — a historic humiliation for the club — followed by another poor performance against Olympique de Marseille (1-2) at Bollaert. He himself had replaced Dino Toppmöller, who was sacked just weeks after the start of the season, despite a remarkable 2024-2025 campaign that ended with a second-place finish in Ligue 1 and a Coupe de France title.

The priority of the Lens board is Pierre Sage, recently removed from his position at Crystal Palace and backed by president Joseph Oughourlian. But the Artois club is not ruling out other options, and the name of Walid Regragui is circulating insistently.

Free since the end of his spell in charge of the Morocco national team, the 51-year-old coach enjoys a solid reputation in the market. He led the Atlas Lions to the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup — a historic first for an African nation — and then to the final of the Africa Cup of Nations. Before that, he had won the African Ligue des Champions in 2022 with Wydad Casablanca.

During the summer, Regragui turned down several offers without following up. Since the start of the season, he has remained in the orbit of French football as a consultant, while remaining attentive to opportunities to return to the bench.