100 million for an 18-year-old kid
Ayyoub Bouaddi was 18 and under contract at Lille. He now has one at Manchester City, and LOSC have banked 100 million euros, bonuses included.
This is not just a big transfer. It is the biggest sale from Ligue 1 to a club abroad ever completed by a French side. And the biggest deal in LOSC history, full stop.
Olivier Letang has just wrapped up the heaviest deal of his career as an executive. For him, that says quite a lot.
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583 million, 17 deals
The numbers speak for themselves. Since taking charge at Stade Rennais in 2017, then LOSC in 2020, Letang has completed 17 sales worth more than 10 million euros each. Combined total: 583.32 million.
Nine years of work. A pace that would make any Ligue 1 chief dizzy.
Lille carry most of the load in that total. Leny Yoro left for Manchester United for 62 million. Lucas Chevalier joined PSG for 40. Amadou Onana went to Everton for 39.87. Sven Botman moved to Newcastle for 37. Bafode Diakite headed to Bournemouth for 35. Carlos Baleba joined Brighton for 27.
Six names, and we have not even counted Bouaddi yet.
The club that sells high and starts again
There is a method behind it all. Buy young, play them early, sell at the peak. LOSC have been doing it for years and still keep qualifying, which is no small feat when you are waving off your best players every summer.
Bouaddi pushes Letang into a different bracket. A nine-figure sale out of France to a foreign club had never happened before.
Now comes the question everyone in the north is already asking. How long until the next one.
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