‘Everyone understood why I insisted on signing him’ – Franck Haise reacts to Charles Vanhoutte’s OGC Nice debut

By the admission of OGC Nice sporting director Florian Maurice, not all of Le Gym’s signings this summer have bedded in immediately. Many, in fact, have struggled in the opening gameweeks of the season. 

However, that was not the case for Charles Vanhoutte (26), signed from Union Saint-Gilloise in a €6m deal on transfer deadline day. The Belgian made his Nice debut against FC Nantes on Saturday and made an immediate impact. He made three key passes and should have had an assist when he played in Kevin Carlos in the first half, however, he did get his assist in the second half, intercepting the ball and laying off Jérémie Boga, who ran half the length of the pitch to finish. “It was half an assist,” joked Vanhoutte post-match.

That goal was enough for Les Aiglons to beat Nantes (1-0) and return to winning ways. His performance was rewarded with the man-of-the-match trophy, and post-match, Franck Haise was full of praise for the new recruit Vanhoutte.

“He did that after four days. We already saw it during the week,” began the Nice manager in a press conference attended by Get French Football News. “After two training sessions, everyone understood why I insisted on signing him. He is a very intelligent player with lots of reliability on many levels.”

GFFN | Luke Entwistle – reporting from Nice