Both signing for Ligue 1 strugglers Guingamp after their contracts with Sunderland were terminated early, Papy Djilobodji and Didier Ndong aren’t having the best of starts to the new leg in their career away from the Stadium of Light.
The fact the centre-back’s first appearance came in a 9-0 loss to Paris Saint-Germain wasn’t a good omen, although he did help his side advance in the Coupe de France in a 2-1 win after extra time against Nancy.
However, his next league outing will be one he’ll want to forget altogether, getting sent off in the 59th minute for kicking Reims’ Pablo Chavarria in the face.
To be fair to the former Sunderland defender, it does look like he was trying to clear the ball back over his head, missed it and accidentally smacked the Argentine right on the nose, breaking it, but the Ligue 1 disciplinary committee seem to think he needed to be severely punished for it.
France Football have reported that Djilobodji will miss the next six games through suspension, leaving him very little time to help Guingamp avoid relegation to Ligue 2.
Much like the Black Cats did a couple of years ago in the Premier League, the Ligue 1 club are having a season to forget in France’s top tier, currently rock bottom with 14 points from 22 games.
