is a perfect example of the current state of the game in France. Think about this for example: You have a club which has won the league 2 years in a row now. They have multiple consecutive seasons in the Champions League. They have outstanding attendence every game and have a great fanbase. Their payroll is I think the highest in the country so they do spend the money.They have now surpassed PSG as 1 of the top 2 clubs in the country. Yet after all that they still can't hold on to one of their best players.This is very telling. The allure of playing in England or Spain is still too great for these guys. OL should be able to hold on to a guy like this based on the things I stated previously.
I think it speaks to the place of French football in the minds and wallets of the players. First, as long as Spain, England and Italy (whatever way you rank them) are the top 3 leagues in the world players are going to want to leave France to play elsewhere in Europe. Even in Germany where football is the biggest sport they have this problem. Second, football is not the biggest sport in France, which will continue to hold it about where it is in it's place in French sporting life. I think France will continue to produce great players, I think you will always have the top teams reasonably well supported, but you have to resign yourself to eventually losing the best of them. The USA is in a similar position, though on a smaller scale with less fancied players. MLS will always be a smaller league compared to baseball, american football, etc. No matter how much we pay them, likely they will always want to play in better leagues overseas where the play is more competitive. Third, as they will likely always be able to make more money aborad (between contracts and endorsements) than they can in France, they will always have another reason to leave.
The question is, where in the hell does Anderson want to play, he already played in Barcelona and when he left nobody cried for his departure! he's not THAT good!
You guys are right about the state of French football, but in my opinion, this particular situation is not about money, Sonny Anderson is leaving Lyon because he is too old and/or wants a change of scenery. He served Lyon well for the time he was there. It's not like he's being chased by Man. U or Real. Besides, Lyon have Pegguy Luyindula and Sydney Govou to get the job done.
he's a huge addition, they just had an unadjusted Martin Palermo who is right now in the market, Antonio DeNigris, a mexican who is back in Monterrey (I read that he was transfered in the draft) and a couple of youngsters from both madrid and Barça's youth systems who were not precisely proven goalscorers (Quique and Guayre)
I agree, Lyon have many good young strikers and Anderson is now 33. I think they actually released him from the last year of his contract, so he went on a free - and to Villareal, who finished 15th last year in La Liga.