Lens needs a favor from former striker Elye Wahi against PSG in Ligue 1 title race

PARIS — With the Ligue 1 championship entering its decisive phase, RC Lens finds itself in the unusual position of cheering for a player it no longer owns. On Saturday, all eyes at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis will be on a television screen 950 kilometers away in Nice, where 23-year-old Elye Wahi — the club’s €35 million record signing two summers ago — will attempt to derail Paris Saint-Germain’s march toward a 12th French title.

Lens trails leader PSG by a single point, but the Parisians have a match in hand. That mathematical reality means the northerners almost certainly need a slip-up from Luis Enrique’s side somewhere down the stretch, and Nice’s visit to the Parc des Princes this weekend represents the most immediate opportunity.

Enter Wahi, whose career arc since leaving Montpellier has resembled a roller-coaster more than a straight line upward. After rejecting Chelsea in 2022, the striker chose Lens, flashing the explosive pace and audacious finishing that once marked him as one of Europe’s elite prospects. He scored 19 league goals in his final Montpellier campaign and arrived in the Pas-de-Calais for a fee that remains a club record.

The early returns were promising: Wahi tormented Arsenal in a Champions League group-stage duel and earned player-of-the-match honors. Yet consistency eluded him, and Lens cashed in the next summer, selling him to Marseille for €25 million. Thirteen league appearances, zero tactical fit and one frustrated ultras section later, Marseille flipped him to Eintracht Frankfurt for €26 million. The German stint proved even rockier — one goal in 25 games — prompting a January loan to Nice, where the French youth international has begun to resemble his former self: four goals and an assist in seven matches, including a sensational 40-metre lob last weekend against Angers.

Lens coach Franck Haise has never hidden his admiration for Wahi’s raw ability, and although the forward now wears the red-and-black of Nice, the entire Lens dressing room will be hoping their ex-No. 9 channels Friday-night form into Saturday-afternoon heroics.

Before any scoreboard-watching, Lens must first handle its own business Friday evening against relegation-threatened Angers. Last week’s 2-1 defeat at Lorient — in which Lens attempted a European-high 58 crosses without reward, per Opta — left key players looking leg-weary. Haise admitted the thinness of his squad, built on a Ligue 1 mid-table budget, is beginning to show against the depth-rich Parisians.

PSG, meanwhile, must balance title management with Tuesday’s Champions League quarter-final second leg. Coach Luis Enrique will be without winger Bradley Barcola, who sprained an ankle midweek against Chelsea, but can welcome back Khvicha Kvaratskhelia after the Georgian responded to a brief benching with three goals in two continental matches.

Elsewhere in the European-places scrap, third-placed Marseille — now guided by recently appointed Habib Beye — hosts fifth-placed Lille in a fixture moved to Sunday afternoon amid heightened political tension surrounding France’s municipal elections. Fourth-placed Lyon, winless in four league outings, welcomes resurgent Monaco, which seeks a sixth straight victory and a potential jump to within a point of its hosts. At the bottom, Metz’s 18-year-old academy product Nathan Mbala will try to add to his pair of senior goals when the tailenders visit Rennes.

For Lens, though, the script is simple: beat Angers, then hope the player they once banked on to fire them to glory can instead fire their rivals to defeat.

Elye Wahi, your old club needs you — just this once.