Paris FC have signed midfielder Rudy Matondo from Auxerre in a permanent deal completed on deadline day of the winter transfer window, 2 February 2026. The fee is reported to be around €17.5m, with a further €2.5m in add-ons that could push the total package close to €20m, and Auxerre have also negotiated a 12.5% cut of any future sell-on fee. It ranks as the second-biggest sale in Auxerre's history, behind only Djibril Cissé's €20m move to Liverpool in 2004 — a striking price tag for a player who turned 17 only recently. Matondo has signed a contract running to 2028, the maximum length permitted for a player who is still a minor.
The deal is a statement of intent from Paris FC, who have been building under wealthy new backing that includes Red Bull's football development expertise alongside existing ownership. The club had reportedly been tracking Matondo for some time and moved decisively once it became clear a deal could be struck mid-season rather than waiting until the summer. For a club still establishing itself in Ligue 1, spending this kind of money on a teenager who has barely a season of senior football behind him shows how highly they rate his ceiling.
For Auxerre, it's a significant loss both financially and on the pitch. Matondo only joined the club's academy in 2023 from local side US Grigny, so his rise from unknown teenager to a player commanding an eight-figure fee has taken barely two and a half years. He made his professional debut in April 2025 and had already become a regular fixture in Auxerre's midfield when the offer arrived, meaning the Burgundy club are losing one of their most promising academy products just as he was starting to deliver on the first team.
In terms of recent form, Matondo had featured 16 times in Ligue 1 for Auxerre this season, including six starts and just over 600 minutes of action across the club's first 20 matchdays. That's a modest number of minutes for a full campaign, but it reflects a club easing a 17-year-old into senior football gradually rather than overplaying him. He has also represented France at Under-18 level, picking up caps that underline how highly the national set-up rates him alongside his club.
Paris FC's then-head coach Stéphane Gilli, who oversaw the signing before later leaving the role, described Matondo as powerful, comfortable under pressure, and a player who drives forward with the ball and wins it back well — attributes that suggest he's viewed less as a passenger being brought in for the future and more as a midfielder who can already compete physically in Ligue 1. Given his profile, he looks likely to be used initially as a squad option who can rotate in central midfield, with the expectation that his role grows as he adds experience and minutes.
There's also a homecoming element to the move: Matondo was born in Grigny, on the outskirts of Paris, so joining Paris FC brings him back to where he grew up after leaving for Auxerre as a young academy prospect. That local narrative, combined with the size of the fee, has made this one of the more eye-catching moves of the winter window in France.