How Martin Terrier's return is boosting Stade Rennais

It’s been a long time coming for Martin Terrier, this much is true. After a breakout campaign in 2021-22 which saw him score 21 goals in Ligue 1, he was doing much the same last season, with the Breton side firmly in the mix for the top three. A cruciate injury suffered against Nice saw his season ended prematurely, and Rennes slumped away from the race for the Champions League, no other striker having reached double figures.

The beginning of the current campaign thus saw the striker on the sidelines, and while he did make fleeting appearances off the bench and in Europe, it took him until his eleventh match to score in the league this season, netting a brace against former side Lyon.

Since then, though, he’s been in scintillating form, scoring four in four before being rested for the team’s Coupe de France win in the week. Now just four points off sixth and on the back of seven straight wins in all competitions, Terrier is helping his side their stride in a big way.

Even when Terrier doesn’t score for the Bretons, though, his aerial presence, pace and skill make him a threat to stretch defences and draw his teammates into play. This difference is born out in the stark difference between the club’s record with and without him in the starting lineup:

In the 92 matches he’s started for the club, they have averaged 1.83 goals per match, picking up 1.76 points, while in the 42 he’s missed or been on the bench for, those figures drop to 1.55 and 1.38, easily the difference between a place in Europe and midtable.

Terrier himself estimates that he’s perhaps still not back to his best, recently telling Ouest-France, “I feel it’s getting better and better, physically, I’m getting a good volume of sprints. It was frustrating at first because I had a hard time coming back, but you have to be patient with this kind of injury.”

For the moment, it seems that patience is paying off in a major way, something which will have a chance to be solidified further ahead of the team’s big European clash with AC Milan next week.