A deal struck in the last 48 hours of the window
Mahamadou Diawara is leaving Olympique Lyonnais. Foot Mercato report that Lyon and Red Star have shaken hands over the 21-year-old midfielder, a loan with a purchase option set at 1.5 million euros.
The medical is pencilled in for Tuesday in Paris.
He took his time over it. Weeks of weighing options, right up until the window left him no more room to think.
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Promising at 18, stuck at 21
Diawara was flagged early as one of the better products of the Lyon academy. He never turned that into a place in the first team.
French academies produce this outcome constantly. A teenager climbs quickly, touches the senior squad, then hits a wall because the position in front of him is already occupied by three internationals. Ability stops being the question. Minutes become the only currency.
Another empty season at 21 would have followed him around for years. That is the maths he did.
Saint-Ouen, and a pay cut to get there
Red Star sit in Ligue 2, a division where a young midfielder can play through a bad month instead of being buried after one loose pass.
Damien Perrinelle, the Red Star coach, is credited with convincing him. Diawara has also reportedly accepted lower wages to push the move through.
A player from a Ligue 1 academy taking less money to go down a level tells you where his head is. The pitch will settle the rest.
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