It also looks like the club will be playing more of Martin Terrier, who looks promising. I wouldn't mind if OL signed a straight up striker plus one or two defensive signings. I miss the days when Lyon had players like Alou Diarra and Mathieu Bodmer on the bench. At one point we had one of the best benches in Europe. Le sigh. We'll get there again!
We may be closing in on the Croatian midfielder Milan Badelj (bit of déjà vu as we've been linked with this player before) , who did not renew with Fiorentina. I think it would be a good signing to have a holding midfielder with that much experience for free. AC Milan and Zenit St. Petersburg have also made contract offers, and it sounds like it's most likely between us and Zenit.
Lyon will be scouting Lucas Veríssimo of Santos next week. He's a CB and more affordable than Yerry Mina. I don't know much about him to be honest. As long as he's better than Marcelo, I'm happy. Also, Liverpool's Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will be out for all of next season. Not sure, which may make them more desperate to sign Fekir.
With our current defensive situation I would still personally rather get a CB with a more proven track record at a higher level than taking a chance on potential.
Amine Gouiri scored two goals today in France's U19 match against Turkey: The best thing about OL is their academy. Amazing.
Never put much stock in friendlies, but a promising display by a largely reserve squad against a woeful Fulham. Thought Caqueret looked especially sharp.
The lack of transfer activity is starting to reach that nervous point. We keep hearing some names but not much is moving forward. I wasn't a huge fan of the Mina rumors so the fact he's seemingly slipping away from us and toward Everton doesn't bother me, but would still be nice to sign a defensive reinforcement to be excited about.
It's unlike OL to be this quiet on the transfer market. Lyon are supposedly now trying to keep Fekir and Marcelo. I'm ok with Fekir, but I'd rather sell Marcelo and buy a better CB, plus another one as backup. That's all we really need. Midfield and attack look good. Any more additions, and we'll have too much. I read a horrible rumor that Lyon were putting in an offer for Gareth Bale. Thanks but no thanks.
Yeah.... any mention of Bale means it's a particularly slow day on the internet. If he ever came to France it would have to be PSG, he fits the mold of their typical transfer target. The transfer window is probably in part because we don't have many needs, but it still seems disappointing that we can't address the CB position since we should definitely have available budget to upgrade. I also think we could use a more defensive minded/holding midfielder for rotation, but not as much as we need a Champions League quality CB. With Fekir, at this point, I would just want an answer one way or the other.
Having an additional holding mid should be a must, not as much as quality CB though. We need at least 2 and that should be our focus. This stadium is also part of the problem IMO.
yeah, they won't pay off debt until 2024, I believe, The good news is they are receiving more money from match day ticketing. I think Lyon had the highest in the league last season. Another awful rumor is that Lyon offered 30m for Yerry Mina. If so, I would be very disappointed. Too much money for a guy that had 5 good games.
Managed to watch Lyon's embarrassing loss to Huddersfield, a relegation level EPL team. Two positives - Traore was excellent and Caqueret was truly impressive. The second he went off the pitch, OL destabilized and conceded 3 goals. Tousart and Ferri were invisible. Actually the whole team was invisible. But Gorgelin...my god. All three goals conceded were terrible. Truly worried that he'll be in the first two league games this year.
Missed it, but I never get too worried or optimistic from friendly results. I'm glad to hear Caqueret played well again, his development seems very promising.
Several reports from Portugal today saying that we had a 30 Million offer for the 21 year-old center back Ruben Dias rejected by Benfica. I don't really see us increasing our offer enough, his release clause is 45 Million (though Benfica is trying to sign him to a new contract with a 60 Million clause).
Yeah Aulas is gonna fork over €45m.... I don't know anything about Dias. We need a younger profile at CB so getting a younger one should he a huge priority.
Dias is a promising talent and definitely had a breakout season last year at Benfica. He can still improve, but I don't know about 30+ Million it seems too much... Then again at some point we need a big defensive signing.
Dealing with the big 3 Portuguese clubs is awful. Frankly it's like dealing with Aulas for other clubs. I remember the early 2000's when Chelsea were dealing with Porto after Mourinho won the big ears with them and we signed Carvalho and Ferreria and spent what was a fortune at the time. The Portuguese drive a hard bargain.
To be honest, I don't really fault Benfica for not wanting to sell a player they invested years into after one season on the pitch without a big return.
From what was reading on Twitter (which means it's all true), Florian Maurice prefers Dias but Aulas prefers Mina (a "bigger" signing) By the time they're done bickering, we'll miss both and end up with that Ligue 2 player we've been linked with
I would say the two are fairly equal, but I think Mina might be the slightly better player for an immediate impact. Dias is quite strong and imposing for his age, but not quite as far as long as Mina. On the flip side, Dias even if we pay 30-40 Million could be worth 60-70 Million in a few years. What Barcelona want for Mina will probably at best receive an equal offer in a few years.
Lyon are also interested in David Lopez of Espanyol. If we got him and either Mina or Dias, I'd be delighted. Cause we def need two. This way they can let Marcelo leave and not rely as much on Morel.
http://www.olympique-et-lyonnais.co...nature-dune-jeune-pepite-anglaise,155247.html Well our problems are solved, we are going to sign a youth striker.
The new strategy is to score so many goals that it will offset all the goals they concede. Best defense is a good offense? Maybe?