Thirty-two seconds, an empty printer and a missed deadline changed the course of Lucas Da Cunha’s career. Four years after a proposed move to Lorient collapsed at the close of the 2022 summer window, the former Rennes prospect has reached the France squad after making his Champions League debut with Como.
Da Cunha, now 25, has been handed his first international appearance by new France coach Zinédine Zidane. It completes a remarkable rise for a midfielder whose prospects were far less clear in September 2022, when he was struggling for opportunities at Nice and preparing to join Lorient.
A transfer lost after the deadline
Lorient had identified Da Cunha as part of a youth-focused recruitment drive at the beginning of Régis Le Bris’s first season in charge. The Brittany club had already brought in young players including Adil Aouchiche and Chrislain Matsima, and saw Da Cunha’s technical qualities as a natural fit.
At the time, he had made only 11 appearances for Nice since arriving two years earlier. However, a productive six-month loan spell at Clermont, where he played around 15 matches, had revived interest in the player.
Negotiations ran into the final hours of deadline day and the paperwork was ultimately submitted to the Ligue de Football Professionnel system 32 seconds too late. A Lorient official said the delay came amid a chaotic evening, with Nice also losing time before the documents could be completed. The explanation offered was painfully simple: the printer had run out of ink cartridges.
The registration could not be accepted after the window had shut, leaving Da Cunha deeply disappointed at missing the move to the Morbihan club.
Lorient could have pursued a replacement signing through the joker market, but Nice were no longer willing to release Da Cunha under the terms discussed before the deadline. Lorient instead signed Guingamp winger Yoann Cathline.
A setback that became a turning point
There is understandable regret at Lorient over the player they nearly acquired, particularly given Da Cunha’s current progress in Italy and with France. Yet the failed move is also viewed as an important moment in his development.
A Lorient representative said the player was in a more difficult period in 2022 but has since matured, established himself at a higher level and shown that he belongs there. The aborted transfer, in that view, became part of the path that helped him grow.
Lorient were not derailed by the missed deal. Le Bris’s side finished 10th in Ligue 1 in May 2023, while the season also provided the stage for local midfielder Enzo Le Fée to flourish.
Le Fée, now at Sunderland, was recently included in a preliminary France selection by Zidane. Like Da Cunha, he operates as a central midfielder capable of linking play and progressing the ball.
Zidane selected Da Cunha ahead of Le Fée on this occasion, but Lorient believe the Sunderland player has a credible claim to a future France call-up. For the club, an eventual international debut for Le Fée might offer a fitting consolation for the transfer that slipped away in the final half-minute of a summer deadline day.
