Two goals, two assists, six games, no buy option
Zachary Athekame scored Lyon’s third against Rennes on Saturday night, right foot, 49th minute, at the end of a move that had Rennes chasing shadows. He then teed up Corentin Tolisso for the fourth. OL won 4-0 and moved into the Ligue 1 top three.
The Swiss right-back arrived as cover. Six matches later he has four goal involvements, which is not what cover usually produces.
He is not talking it up. “The stats are good. But the most important thing is that we win matches. If I can get stats, I try to get them. But the most important thing is that we win,” he said afterwards.
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Geneva to Milan in four years
Athekame came through the Swiss system and made his senior bow at Neuchatel Xamax. Young Boys gave him top-flight minutes at home. Then AC Milan gambled on him in 2025.
Lombardy was a strange year. Thirty-three appearances in all competitions, seven of them starts, and still two goals and two assists out of it. The Rossoneri let him leave this summer to get proper minutes.
Lyon closed the deal on 14 August: a straight loan until 30 June 2027. The club’s statement leaned on a profile “combining pace, power and versatility”. He is 21 and has 17 caps at Switzerland U21 level.
Milan still hold every card
What he gives Paulo Fonseca goes beyond defending. He links the play, finds runners, and his pace genuinely hurts teams in the final third. Lyon had been hunting for that on the right for the best part of a year.
Here is the catch. The loan carries no option to buy. None. If Athekame keeps producing at this rate until June 2027, Lyon will be negotiating from the weakest possible position against a club that owes them nothing.
He leaves for international duty during the break. Before that, Rennes had been a useful measuring stick. “They are a direct rival and we like that kind of match-up. We like playing against the best in Ligue 1,” he said.
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