A departure that leaves a sour taste
Thomas Meunier has not held back. The Belgian left Lille this summer, walking away on a free transfer and heading for Sunderland and the Premier League.
He could have stayed. The two sides never managed to agree on a new deal. Meunier felt president Olivier Létang’s offer was nowhere near good enough, so he looked elsewhere.
“It’s more his decision than mine if I didn’t stay,” the defender told L’Equipe on Saturday. Plain talk. And it points straight at Lille’s hierarchy.
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Two seasons and one regret
Meunier says he did respond to LOSC’s proposal, but with his own terms. Lille didn’t bite. He had hoped Létang would make one last push to get the deal done. It never came.
At 34, still a Belgium international, he comes off two seasons he rates as very successful in the north of France. He wanted time before making the call. Weigh up the options, the project, the lot. In the end, English football won out.
The return and the page turned
Sometimes football has a neat sense of timing. Meunier was back in the north this weekend, this time with Sunderland, for a friendly at Lens that the English side won 2-0.
A small nod to the past before he heads back across the Channel. The Lille chapter is over. Now comes the real test: what the Premier League has in store for a 34-year-old full-back who still has a point to prove.
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