A comeback barely under way, and a move already taking shape
Malick Fofana has been back on a pitch for a matter of weeks. What is happening behind the scenes is moving a good deal faster than his legs are.
The Belgian winger lost almost a full year. A serious right ankle injury against Strasbourg last October, surgery, then months of nagging pain that kept pushing the return date back. Lyon’s medical staff only signed off recently. He started the second leg against Sparta Prague and came through it without a problem.
The timing is awkward. Olympique Lyonnais fly to Turkey on Tuesday for the first leg of their Champions League play-off against Fenerbahce, and they need him on the pitch, not in a departure lounge.
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Thirty-five million, spread out the way Roma like it
The Roma deal is moving quickly. La Gazzetta dello Sport reported in Tuesday’s edition that a financial agreement between Lyon and AS Roma is all but done, with the total package set at 35 million euros.
The structure tells you plenty about both clubs. A 5 million euro paid loan, an obligation to buy at 30 million once certain conditions are met, bonuses on top, and a sell-on clause for Lyon. Roma spread the cost across two budgets. Lyon protect the headline figure. Neither side is flush.
Terms with the player’s camp are already agreed. Gian Piero Gasperini likes what the 21-year-old Belgium international does with the ball at his feet and wants him running the left channel for the Giallorossi, next to Portuguese winger Rodrigo Mora, whose own situation is still unresolved in the Italian capital.
The European calendar may decide this one
Two things still stand in the way: the Mora file, and the Fenerbahce tie. Lyon have said plainly that they want Fofana available for both legs.
Reaching the Champions League league phase reshapes a club’s accounts for a season. That is why OL are prepared to sit on a sale they have already negotiated rather than send out a weakened side across two games worth eight figures.
Which leaves the question nobody at Lyon has answered yet: who replaces a player they are selling almost the week he got fit.
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