Zero minutes in Milan this season, and suddenly a Lyon link
Nobody had this one. Gianluca Di Marzio and Matteo Moretto both put Youssouf Fofana’s name next to the Groupama Stadium on Monday morning, and Foot Mercato followed within the hour: an agreement between AC Milan and Olympique Lyonnais is close to done.
Gazzetta dello Sport describes a loan with an option to buy. Lille had a look as well. Nothing is signed, but the signals all point the same way.
To be clear about which Fofana this is: the 27-year-old France midfielder, not Malick Fofana, the winger half of Europe has spent August trying to prise out of Lyon.
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Milan have been trying to move him since June
Not one minute this season in Lombardy. Last year told a different story, 36 appearances across all competitions, two goals, three assists. He is contracted to 2028 and no longer part of what the Rossoneri are building, which is why the club has been shopping him around all summer.
They wanted 18 to 20 million euros. Galatasaray, Nottingham Forest, Crystal Palace, Villarreal, Betis, Ipswich Town all made enquiries. None of them closed.
Lyon are familiar territory in a sense. Fofana grew up in Ligue 1 with Strasbourg then Monaco, and a move would reunite him with Paulo Fonseca, his coach at Milan.
Fifty million still has to go out the door
Lyon’s problem is the other side of the ledger. After the Champions League exit against Fenerbahce on Wednesday, Matthieu Louis-Jean said the club was holding its line with a budget built around Europa League football. Fonseca put it more plainly. “We have this need, it’s the truth, to sell players.”
Around 50 million euros has to come in to balance the books. Malick Fofana looks likely to go. Pavel Sulc, Nicolas Tagliafico, Ruben Kluivert, Tanner Tessmann and Ainsley Maitland-Niles have all been mentioned too.
The window shuts tomorrow night.
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