Karim Benzema and Jeremy Toulalan Extend Their Contracts!!!!!!!!
By: Inara | March 7th, 2008
Life is good. How can it not be when two of Lyon’s most important players – in fact the most important players – commit several more years to Lyon?
This morning, it was announced that Jeremy Toulalan extended his contract by another two years until 2012. Additionally, Karim Benzema, the player everyone wants, reaffirmed his desire to stay by also adding another two years – so now he’s under contract until 2014. Edit: His buyout clause will be over €100m.
Of course this doesn’t mean that these two will actually be here that long, but with Samir Nasri soon to be extending his contract, and Hatem Ben Arfa hopefully following, these guys will be examples to the other young talents that fall into the trap of leaving France too early. So maybe L1 does have hope?
Take that, Fergie/Arsene/Carlo/Roman/Txixi/Pedra/Massimo! I just know that those guys are crying because now Benz’s price has just skyrocketed.
And the best news is that Lyon will be keeping the core elements of their team together. Do you know what this means for next year? Champions League, here we come (closer)!
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Tags: Hatem Ben Arfa, Jeremy Toulalan, Karim Benzema, Ligue 1, Lyon, Player News and Rumors, Samir NasriSubscribe
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Comments
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That’s a oh so good news !!
I repeat what I said, Toulalan is the best recruitment OL have done for 3 years. I’m totally convinced of that.
And I think I don’t need to speak about Benz.
Benz is the one.
Posted from
France
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This looks good for Lyon’s long term prospects (obviously)… Keeping the recruits for longer. You could build quite a team from only the young footballers that have had to be sold by Lyon over the past years.
Posted from
United States -
I think if players like Benzema and Ben Arfa stick around for 2 or 3 years, we could definately win the CL. I think Paillot and Remy and Beynie will help big time in the league, but we do need to recruit a few players this summer to be more competitive in the CL still. Step 1, offload Grosso!
Posted from
United States -
Brilliant news – the future team really is looking good. Our first CL cup would be a great way to christen the new stadium three years from now.
Apparently Benzema has an eight year old brother who’s supposed to be even better than the original at the same age…with those football genes we end up being very grateful his parents had so many children:)Posted from
France -
in your face Fergie!
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United States -
Well I guess Benzema got what he wanted. The reason that there was that entire fuss about him going to Man United was only because he wanted a larger contract. Looks like it happened.
If Benzema wants to be a star for the national team and play ahead of players like Henry and Anelka, then he needs to go somewhere else. Ligue 1 just isn’t cutting it.
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United States -
Mark, whatever new wages he’s getting, it’s nothing on what he’d get if he moved abroad. So he’s not staying for monetary reasons.
He only recently 20, so he has all the time in the world to move abroad. But he has to be ready to leave, not just in terms of football but in his personal life too. We’ve seen too many French footballers crash and burn outside because they just weren’t mentally prepared to make the move at that age.
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United States -
I just read the story and am sooo pleased for Lyon. Mostly because ManYoo won’t be getting him now. I like to see that clubs in France/Germany/Holland can keep their young talent without EPL/La Liga/Serie A teams poaching them. Now only if Hamburg can keep Van Der Vaart. . .
Posted from
United States -
wtf!!!
i read some rumors about a juninho transfer for são paulo!! i think its only especulation… but im a vasco da gama fan and also a juninho fan ..but if he goes to são paulo it will be a shame for all of us
here is the link
Posted from
Brazil -
omg also at sao paulo website
Posted from
Brazil -
I just wanted to mention that his buyout clause will probably be in the realm of 100 million euros…
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United States -
Caio, I just can’t believe that. First of all, Juni has said millions of times that he wants to end his career at Lyon, and furthermore, that he wants to continue living in France.
Also, I don’t see him doing that to Vasco fans. He loves that club and wouldn’t backstab like that, especially since Sao Paulo won’t be paying him that much money.
It’s possible that some contact took place, and Sao Paulo is hopeful that good relations between the two clubs might facilitate something, but I just don’t see it.
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United States -
Inara, i know that is almost impossible his transfer to São Paulo, but Juninho said many times that he will come back to Vasco to end his career at 2010, when his contract with Lyon ends
like he said on that video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlIGp50Aas0
here is the translation :
Fan:Juninho,Speak,please!…
Fan:Shirt of “Vascão”(Vasco da Gama)…
Juninho:Shirt of “Vascão” its historical…
Fan:This shirt its like Gold!..
Juninho:This shirt is everything…And is the number 8…
Fan:Força Jovem(in Brazil,the most fanatical fans in the soccer have a special name…Força Jovem its this “hooligans” of Vasco da Gama)
Fan:Juninho is Força Jovem…
Juninho:I will be back one day!Posted from
Brazil -
Well, if Juninho had to go to another club, Vasco is the best place. The fans adore him, and he truly loves that club. I’d be sad though, as I was kind of hoping he’d retire at Lyon so we could build a statue for him. He’s terrific and the main reason (besides Aulas) that Lyon are where they are today,
I think it was Pride of Lyon who coined the term, OMJ, as opposed to OMG. Makes sense, right?
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United States -
Inara, I don’t know what you mean by “buyout clause”, because it’s not mandatory in France (as it is in the Spanish Liga), and very few players sign one (the only reason a player would sign one is so that he can be sure he can leave should there be a good offer)…
However, it’s great news that Benzema and Toulalan have extended their contract! Now for Ben Arfa and Nasri and the Ligue 1 will be a little more exciting!
However, Lyon will still have to up a level if they want to progress in the Champion’s League, IMO. Let’s hope that Ederson will help in midfield. That’ll be a start. Because Lyon lost (by quite a margin) to Manchester in midfield…
Good luck for Sunday against Blanc(mange)’s boys!
Posted from
France -
Well, Aulas has been talking about the buyout clause, and considering that Benzema looks to be heading to La Liga anyway, it makes sense in his case. Anything to increase his value…it’s very rare when a player actually goes for anything near the amount on the clause. Also, Ederson had a buyout clause on his contract with Nice, of 12m, so there is a precedent.
You are right that Lyon lost the midfield battle last Wednesday. They shouldn’t have because Fletcher + Carrick + Anderson aren’t better (not necessarily worse either) than Juninho + Toulalan + Kallstrom, but unfortunately, Juni and KK didn’t show up on Tuesday. Juni is getting old, and KK seems to blow hot and cold lately. Don’t know what’s up with that. Ederson will be most welcome, and hopefully Bodmer will get his place too. He’s been looking pretty good these past few weeks.
And you need to update your blog! Where else will I get my weekly fix of Nino??
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United States -
Eh, I’ve been on vacation (yep, real proper vacations!) skiing in the Alps.
I’m planning on liveblogging Rennes-PSG if I can, ahem, “manage” to watch it.
But honestly, Rennes is really just “that club that’s there but that never has anything interesting that happens to it”. And that’s one of the reasons why I like them!
As for Man U – Lyon, I found that both teams set out very defensively, but Lyon didn’t manage to scare Man U, save Kader Keita’s shot on the post (but even that, strangely, didn’t scare me much…), whilst Manchester seemed pretty happy to go for 1-0, and wait for a second goal on a counter-attack… Made for a boring game.
Posted from
France
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