OL Café III [R]

it's all the worst kind of rumormongering.

i'm not saying that PSG wouldn't be able to create serious problems for OL ladies if they wanted to, but to start with it's by no means certain they really want to. if they did the attitude of the big club towards the feminine section could have changed already and they would be fighting for the title this year instead of languishing in 4th place a world away from the top three and not even as good as they were last year.

decryption of this article has to start with the words: "selon le magazine Lyon-Capitale"... a periodical with no knowledge about sports and no real interest in them beyond a perverse vendetta against jean-michel aulas in particular and OL in general.

the original article ("exclusive"!) cites a vague "source" close to al-khelaifi. the idea of anyone who actually works with al-khelaifi or leonardo spouting off to Lyon-Capitale is not just unlikely, it's absurd; like someone on big soccer claiming to be drogba's cousin giving us all the dirt on how he's going to sign at OM this summer. there are people who run the PSG ladies' section who are perfectly capable of speaking for themselves, and any real policy and communication would come from them. even PSG ladies' real fans know this whole thing is just nonsense. right now they're more worried about keeping some of their own players (boulleau, dali, masar) than stealing any from lyon!

why the four players mentioned? i think it might simply be they're the only ones the L-C 'journalist" (despite being a local) knows by name. in any case three of them have JUST re-signed: two of them (camille abily and sonia bompastor) already played at PSG during a WPS off-season and if there was any chance of these choosing paris over lyon we wouldn't need Lyon-Capitale to tell us about it, in fact it would probably have been a done deal a long time ago. as concerns SB in particular, she's made it clear that she will play through the 2013 euros and then retire to find things in her life a woman finds great difficulty reconciling with a sporting career at the highest level. the only question mark concerns louisa necib whose loss would be regrettable, but less so than that of 5 or 6 other girls the author probably doesn't even know exist. PSG, not qualified for the champion's league, with a trophy case boasting ONE challenge de france cup, habitually playing in front of a hundred loyal fans against a guard rail instead of 2, 10 or 20 thousand in seats, has nothing to offer the real workhorses at lyon, but would give louisa a guarantee of playing every day, something she doesn't have right now.

if i seem to be getting worked up it's not a pro-lyon / anti-paris reaction. it's because i would really LOVE to see PSG get their act together and raise the level of women's football in france. but to do that they need to 1) offer more of their infrastructure to the women's team 2) keep the players they have 3) use the bright lights of paris to lure a player or three from abroad, especially from countries like the US or scandinavia where supply presently outstrips demand. that should be enough to get them some CL headway but if all else fails they could 4) try to join forces with juvisy, offering resources and receiving expertise. all of that makes sense.

but this article does not.

 

in an interview yesterday JMA encouraged PSG to spend big on women's football and he's sincere: he knows the show will wear thin with one team dominating so outrageously.

that said, the first major transfer of the summer will go in the other direction: élise bussaglia (PSG captain and best player) will probably sign at lyon tomorrow.

and the "three departures" the club announced (which probably fueled the above rumors) are now almost official, even if they have been no secret to those who follow the team. rosana is going back to brazil after failing to break into the starting lineup and the two sandrines, brétigny (leading scorer in the club's history) and dusang (longtime captain but badly injured twice in two years) are leaving after neither getting a single minute this season.

 

to follow up with a comment about the men's transfers: the club announced a few weeks ago there would be "three more departures than signings", but those three were already known: kolodziejczak, mensah and ederson. not to say OL will keep all the other players but for every player leaving one should arrive if you believe what was said.

 

the attitude of PSG this year was positively discouraging and capsulated in the PSG-OL match which was going to be the first big televised matchup of the season. the men's management refused to let the match be played at the PdP as originally planned and it ended up being held in creteil, the nearest stadium that could be found suitable for TV coverage.

 

actually i think he is begging to leave. rubin kazan is offering him a mountain of money.

 

kallstrom would be a bigger sale than you may think: he's coming off a big season and even before that rubin definitely wanted him something fierce,and he's still under contract for a while so the bargaining leverage is there. add to that the fact that he has one of the biggest salaries on the club and his sale make big financial sense.

 

gomis' troubles may not be over (though no charges have been filed) but it's very unlikely he will miss any play because of them. le parisien's figure seems realistic but doesn't signify much; all of OL's players are always on the block for the right price. that doesn't mean it's a going out of business sale.