Just some random odds and ends for you to read as you bide your time waiting for Lyon’s Champions League clash with Liverpool.

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<— Sid’s Serious Captain-y Face.

If you’re wondering why the captain’s armband showed up on Cris last Saturday, despite Sidney Govou also being on the pitch, it’s because our dear (former?) captain was seen drunk in public only two nights before the derby. He was at the Grand Prix de tennis de Lyon (part of the ATP World Tour, for you tennis junkies) with Remy Vercoutre, Florent Laville, and Sylvain Wiltord, another ex-Lyon bad boy. Sadly, pictures of a wasted Govou have yet to circulate on the internet (damn French media – in England they have no scruples about this sort of thing), but video tapes have made their way to Claude Puel’s desk.

Puel wasn’t very happy and took away Govou’s armband, though no word yet on whether this is a permanent change. Puel was pragmatic enough to realize that captain or not, Govou was needed on the pitch, which is why he was in the starting XI against St. Etienne. For Puel, it seems the matter is closed, but Jean-Mimi naturally had more to say. While he did say that Govou is willing to make amends, Aulas also called his leadership abilities into question and said that he’d consider Govou’s punishment carefully. Aulas met with him on Sunday to discuss the situation with him.

I guess this probably seems like an overreaction from Lyon, but given Govou’s hard partying history – and don’t forget that he was arrested for drunk driving less than a year ago – it’s no surprise that the club is so concerned.

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Just for lulz.

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I was going to write about the latest blow to French football’s eternal quest for equality on the global markets, but since Xavier of the Lens Offside has already done such an excellent job in telling us why getting rid of the DIC is really bad news for Ligue 1, I figure, why reinvent the wheel?

Aulas is desperately sounding the alarm. According to him, this change will mean that Lyon lose an extra €6m a year. It doesn’t seem like a lot, at least on the surface, but keep in mind that France already has really strict rules on club finances. Aulas fears that he may not be able to offer extensions to Sidney Govou, Francois Clerc, and other players nearing the ends of their contracts.

Also, here is a great interview (in English!) of Jean-mimi on UEFA.com.

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Kader Keita is the latest ex-OL player to accuse the club of mistreating him. Honestly, all these disgruntled former players make Lyon sound like an abusive ex-husband. Should I be more disturbed?

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I have so much love for these two. Bafe and Lisandro are this, but without the ~dramah~.

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The two latest recruits at Lyon are Norwegian pair Christine Colombo Nilsen and Isabell Hervolsen Both women left Kolbotn for OL Féminines, though their transfer fee remains undisclosed. They were signed just in time for them to be eligible for the club’s CL match against Fortuna Hjørring. Along with Arsenal and Bayern Munich, Lyon are one of three clubs that are still represented in both the men’s and women’s UEFA Champions League. Let’s hope that one of them actually win the damn trophy this time.

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The spot for a third blogger on the Lyon Offside still remains open. John and I post when we can, but I know many of you would prefer more frequent updates. If you think you can post at least once a week, have decent grammar, and are such a diehard fan that you want to share your love of OL with the rest of the world, please read this post.

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Phrase of the day week month: “The unstoppable groin-pocalypse going on at Lyon….What in the name of Cleber’s crotch is going on here?” Found on Dirty Tackle.

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Most of the major roadblocks in the development of OL Land have been removed, as 74% of the population of Greater Lyon are in favor of the new stadium. The biggest obstacle has had to do with the construction of more public transportation to the Decines area, or more accurately, the funding of that new transportation. Right now, there is one dinky tram line that goes out there, which is not enough to support the amount of people expected to utilize public transportation to get to the games (which is estimated at 65%). Some citizens don’t want the city to take on the added burden of these costs (OL wouldn’t be paying for it as it’s the city’s expense), though others argue that the area has long been in need of new train lines regardless, and that the increased revenue to the businesses in the area would make up for the expenses.

In any case, Aulas expects the final plans to be approved this spring, and that applications for the building permits will be completed by fall next year. The expected date of the new stadium is December 8th, 2013.

Lyon have also launched a new website that will keep everyone up to date with the latest news and pictures of the stadium. The site is chock full of interesting stuff, like details about the stadium’s eco-friendly design, the transportation and traffic surveys, a map showing all the sites of interest, and information on how the stadium will be funded (€450m from OL and its private partners and an additional €180m from public funds for transportation purposes).

The architectural firm chosen by Aulas is Populous (formerly HOK Architecture). They have a lot of impressive projects to their name, so we can expect good things from them.

And of course, the photos. I don’t think I’ve posted these pictures before. If you want to see the other pics I’ve posted of the new stadium, just click of the “OL Land/New Stadium” category on the right.

(click to enlarge)

The biggest news is the medical update on Bafetimbi Gomis. Two days ago at Guingamp, Gomis collapsed during practice with the France squad. He was out for a minute or two but revived enough to walk out of the field. He apparently felt fine afterward, and though the team doctor insisted he stay off his feet for the rest of the day – and though his fellow players were scared shitless – he’s been cleared to go back to full training today.

Gomis periodically suffers from Vasogoval episodes, which is a malaise of the vagus nerve. Certain situations can trigger attacks, which is stress, in Gomis’s case. Jean-Michel Aulas raised the red flag stating how alarmed he is over Gomis’s health – this is his third attack since joining Lyon – but Emmanuel Ohrant, OL’s club doctor, says that Gomis is just fine. His health is carefully monitored, and he does not have any heart problems, which is the number one worry in these situations. He undergoes frequent medical checkups, and so far, the club is satisfied with the state of his health. Ohrant even points out that not only were Lyon aware of this issue before they signed Gomis, but that St. Etienne knew about it before they offered him a pro contract, so it is clearly not that much cause for concern.

All the same, it’s still scary to think about, especially when footballer deaths seem to be occurring on an almost yearly basis. While I do trust both OL and Le Bleus when they say that Gomis is fine, it’ll take a long time before this picture is wiped from my memory.

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Here is a quick run down of all the international action involving OL players.

France (vs. Faroe Islands – 10/10/09, vs. Austia – 10/14/09): Jeremy Toulalan, Hugo Lloris, Sidney Govou, Bafetimbi Gomis.

France U21 (vs. Netherlands – 10/09/09, vs. Belgium(h) – 10/12/09, vs. Belgium (a) – 10/14/09): Clement Grenier, Yannis Tafer, Thimothée Kolodziecziak, Alexandre Lacazette

Cameroon (vs. Togo – 10/10/09, vs. Angola – 10/14/09): Jean II Makoun

Sweden (vs. Denmark – 10/10/09, vs. Albania – 10/14/09): Kim Kallstrom

Bosnia (vs. Estonia – 10/10/09, vs. Spain – 10/14/09): Miralem Pjanic

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On to the good news. OL Féminines, who are participating in Europe for the third year in a row, defeated Serbian club Masinac to reach the Round of 16 in the UEFA Women’s Champions League. The ladies defeated Masinac 1-0 at home and then beat them 5-0 away (check out this link on the main webpage for lots of pictures). They’ll be facing Danish side Fortuna Hjørring in the next round. For those of you who keep track of women’s football, UEFA overhauled this tournament, renaming it from the previous moniker, the Women’s Cup, and also changing around the format so that it was closer to the men’s format.

I’m also pleased to report that Aulas continues to take OL Féminines seriously – not only is he still continuing to let them use the Stade de Gerland for their European and major domestic matches, but he’s continuing his policy of aggressive recruiting and extensive financial support. Many of the women are now on pro-contract, and he’s trying to lure in more players from abroad. The latest target is Kolbotn’s goalkeeper and Norweigian international Christine Colombo Nilsen, who is being considered to replace Sarah Bouhaddi, France’s #1 gk. Bouhaddi herself was brought on this past summer (ironically to replace Bente Nordby, Norway’s previous #1), but due to an injury she picked up, she’ll be out for six months.

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The FFF had a great article on its website about the long standing friendship between Yannis Tafer and Clement Grenier, two of the youth players Puel is integrating into the senior squad. The article provides a nice look into their experiences and insights of growing up together in Lyon’s training center. Reading it, I got the feeling that these two are being groomed as the next Karim Benzema/Hatem Ben Arfa duo, which would be great on one hand, but on the other hand (all that ~dramah~), maybe it’d be better to let the boys grow up without the shadows of their currently troubled predecessors looming over them.

*Bonus question: Who is the next Samir Nasri to complete the latest golden trio?

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And since we’re on the subject of young prodigies, I’m sure you’ve all heard by now of Karim Benzema’s now famous interview in which he admitted to not trying very hard for both France and Lyon. He also blamed Claude Puel as the reason for his leaving (yeah right). Raymond Domenech is pissed while Jean-mimi is patting himself on the back for getting rid of Benzema before his megalomania began taking serious effect – and for 35 million euros, no less.

I’m rather sad about Benzema’s words because until last season, he was such a hard working and humble kid. He loved OL, and we loved him. But the press and stardom got to him, and pretty soon he was thinking that he was bigger than the club. Regardless of that, I was still upset to see him leave this past summer, but it looks like Lyon’s strategy of cutting loose players has once again worked out. Because for all of Benzema’s talents, his attitude would have further poisoned the atmosphere among the players, and no amount of goals would make that worthwhile (plus, it’s not like Benzema was all that great last season anyway). It was time for him to leave and time for OL to lose their dependence on him.

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Hugo Lloris has been voted September’s Player of the Month by the L’Union Nationale des Footballeurs Professionnels (UNFP). Lloris beat out team mate Bafetimbi Gomis and Bordeaux’s Alou Diarra. I don’t think there’s anyone out there who can say that Lloris doesn’t deserve it – he’s been the best player in L1 this past month, and his performances in the Champions League have been equally impressive. Despite picking up a harsh red card against Serbia during France’s WC qualifiers this past month, he still remains an integral part of Domenech’s plans, and most expect him to continue being the first gk choice over Steve Mandanda.

Buttttttttt…

I happened to watch Lloris’s latest interview on the FFF website, and wow, that was cringe-worthy. Somehow, he’s managed to pick up Jeremy Toulalan’s bad camera habits. The poor boy can’t stop touching his face (nor can he look into the camera) during his less than three minute interview. The entire time I was watching it, I was having nightmare flashbacks to this video. You all know how much I adore both Lloris and Toulalan, but really, someone needs to tie their hands down and keep their eyes up any time they give an interview.

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Lyon’s new stadium, which still hasn’t left the drawing board yet, has been officially selected by France’s Euro 2016 committee as one of the 12 sites for the games. While France hasn’t officially been named as hosts, their competitors are Sweden/Norway, Turkey, and Italy. The first two have never hosted the Euros while Italy’s financial situation is rather dire at the moment, which makes France the favorites.

Aulas is hoping to get the final plans approved, though the stadium being selected as part of the tournament will no doubt speed the process along. The costs have jumped up another one hundred million, raising the estimated costs to 350 million euros. In addition, Aulas is working with the city to address the issue of accessibility to the new stadium site, which is the biggest concern among those opposed to the project.

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And to cap off this massive post, here are the latest transfer fallacies blurbs.

*Inter Milan is keeping tabs on Jeremy Toulalan and may make a move for him either this January or the next summer. They need to replace their aging DMs, and France has proved to be the best source of those. While I’m tempted to brush this off, I worry over how long we’ll be able to keep Toulalan, who said that he has no plans to leave any time soon and definitely not until after the World Cup. Personally, he’s one of the players I want to keep at OL for life, and so hopefully Aulas will do whatever it takes to keep Toulalan at Lyon.

*At least Ederson has denied that he’s tempted by the cow eyes that Inter has also been making at him, though unlike Toulalan, I don’t anticipate Ederson to stay at OL for more than another two years or so. For now, Ederson is happy at OL (though he is chafing at losing his starting place), but Inter have been following him for over a season, and Jose Mourinho is no stranger when it comes to buying expensive players from OL.

*Manchester City’s interest in Miralem Pjanic gave me a good laugh. If Pjanic leaves, it won’t be for a while and not for Manchester City. And DEFINITELY not for 5 million pounds.

*Marouane Chamakh has finally put an end to rumors of a potential move to Lyon. In all honesty, this hasn’t been a serious option for the past few years, but Aulas really likes him and has wanted him at OL for a long time. But Chamakh says that while a transfer to OL was enticing a a few seasons back, he can’t imagine playing for another French club anymore, so when he does leave Bordeaux, it’ll be for a club abroad.

*While this isn’t exactly a transfer rumor, Mathieu Bodmer said recently that he doesn’t regret changing positions from midfield to central defense. It’s a fairly lengthy interview full of details, but the salient points are that he gets more playing time as a CB and that his bust up with Puel (which occurred before he left Lille, a full year before Puel followed him to Lyon) is old history, and that the two have a completely professional relationship. Which basically means that Puel is on the bottom of his Christmas card list. But at least Bodmer isn’t trying to move to another club, which is often the case when players are forced to play in positions they don’t really like.

Last week I put up a post questioning Lyon’s sanity, and I’d like to think I am somewhat justified for my stance. Gomis is a decent player and well able to support Lisandro Lopez as a second attacker. He had a bad 2008 campaign (then again, which French player didn’t?), and he was under the radar for most of last season (St. Etienne were struggling with relegation), but he did brilliantly the season before, and his potential is widely acknowledged.

Bafetimbi’s awkward hello.

That being said, his price is a little bit steep, don’t you think? Lyon didn’t even try to haggle this time. I bet ASSE’s president, Bernard Caiazzo, is kicking himself for not asking for more.

But I’m getting off track here. Honestly, I’m not that alarmed at seeing Lyon spend left and right. I’m just wondering if the quality of the players matches the amount paid for them.

Lisandro Lopez – €24m + €4m in incentives
Michel Bastos – €18m + at least €2m incentives
Aly Cissokho – €15m + 20% of future transfer profits
Bafetimbi Gomis – €13m + €2m in incentives

I don’t need a calculator to tell you that Aulas has spent what is roughly the equivalent of the GDP of a third world country on only FOUR players. That’s €70m euros. Marseille on the other hand of purchased twice as many players for less than half that amount, and I don’t think there is that much of a difference between the two squads at the moment.

In fact, I think Marseille have a better defense. Our CBs are not that good. It is. I love my team to death, but it’s been a long time since we’ve seen any evidence of “rock solid defending.” Cris can’t decide if he wants to stay or go, and I don’t trust him to regain his form from two seasons ago. I don’t care what Claude Puel says, Mathieu Bodmer is an attacking midfielder. Referring to John Mensah as the Glass Ghanaian is more of an unalienable truth than it is as a humorous nickname. Jean-Alain Boumsong, who is more suited to be a backup CB at a club of Lyon’s stature, is the most reliable defender at the moment.

Just think about that for a moment. Boumsong. Reliable. Those are the depths Lyon have sunk to.

What I don’t understand is why Lyon aren’t looking at any CBs. I haven’t even any rumors linking them to one. That’s all the more puzzling with Puel visibly wanting to push Mensah out of the club (after making us sign him last season for €8m, the bastard) and Cris seemingly unhappy. On the other hand, Marseille signed Souleymane Diawara and Bordeaux signed Mickael Ciani for peanuts.

Dammit, I want a defender! Our goalkeeper is awesome. Our fullbacks are awesome. Our midfielders are awesome. Our attackers are awesome. But I don’t think Lyon will make it out of Champions League qualifying with the central defense they have. Because as nice as it is to have a deadly attack (and according to the press, Lyon will be adding another player or two to their attacking arsenal), it’s pointless if Lyon concede just as many goals as they score.

Come on, Puel. Just one measly CB. You can even go crazy and spend less than €10m on him (or more, I’m not picky). Pretty please?

After having intial bids for Cissokho turned down; seeing AC Milan swoop in and almost sign Aly from under our noses- a deal which later fell apart; and after weeks of excruciating negotiations with Porto’s pain-in-the-ass, raise-the-bar and make-you-jump-through-as-many-hoops-as-I-please president Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa, Lyon finally have their man, “bad teeth and all.” Just kidding, Aly has already passed a physical administered in Portugal by Lyon team doctor Emmanuel Ohrant.

JMA shelled-out more than fifty times the original purchase price that Porto payed for Aly. The deal is for five years and worth 15mill + 20% of his future resale value! I know JMA is trying to put together L1’s mini-version of Los Galacticos, but this might have been too much to pay for a French leftback that isn’t named Evra or Abidal. Anyway, I know absolutely nothing about Cissokho, except that he seemed to have had a fine past season with Os Dragões, and had a break-out performance this year in the CL, against Man U which put him on the international scene, by keeping Ronaldo pretty quite in their two matches.

Regardless, we hopefully now have a world-class leftback, and can send the “praying mantis,” as my friend at the Lens blog has most aptly named him, aka Fabio Grosso, back to Italia, because his laziness and apathy have been very hard to stomach lately- I’m still bitter we had to unload Nadir Belhadj because of this walking skeleton.

But I digress, anyhow, hopefully our backline just got a lot tighter, and our leftside has been solidified for some time to come. And finally, JMA has struck a PR coup and is putting Lyon on the tongues of many in the soccer world with his no-nonsense accquisition of bigname players and making a big club like AC Milan look petty for making excuses not to pay-up the cash, in their bid to sign Cissoko.

The first signing of the mercato is undoubtedly the most important and probably will remain the most important for some time to come. Why? For those of you who don’t know, the diminuitive striker is the real deal. Although not a household name, “LI-LO” as I have christened him, made a real name for himself last season in Europe, by ending-up the fourth leading scorer in the Champions League with six goals. He finished in fourth place, just behind Lionel Messi, Steven Gerrard, and Miroslav Klose, and ahead of world class strikers such as Alessandro Del Piero, Robert Van Persie, Thierry Henry, and yes, our own(back then) Karim Benzema. He also finished second in shots on goal with twenty-three(23), finishing just behind Cristiano Ronaldo who fired thirty-four(44).

This signing is a major coup for several reasons. First and most obvious, it fills a scoring void- more like scoring black hole- that emerged after Benzema’s departure for Real Madrid several weeks ago. Also, we replaced a word-class player with a world-class player. Usually we replace superstars with very young talent, but Lopez is ready to step-in and take-up exactly where his predecessor left-off. Finally, Lopez is a bulldog, and all he sees on the pitch is the goal. We have a bullish scorer for the future, and hopefully if we recruit a more creative striker to play in support, we will have a scoring duo that will terrorize defenses. If JMA does get Andre-Pierre Gignac -JMA’s still working on roping-in Loic Remy, Gignac, and Aly Cissokho after bagging Michel Bastos yesterday- he should recieve an infallibility akin to that which the Pope enjoys inside the walls of Vatican City. He will be immune from any and all criticism for the rest of his life!!!! You hear that Ronan?

Lopez is a tiny striker(1.68m) high, but what he lacks in height, he more than makes-up for with his stout and powerful body, his highly superb finishing ability, and the fact that he plays with more heart than most of his taller contemporaries. The Argentine international is a prolific goal scorer: in four seasons with Porto, he’s found the back of the net fourty-four (44)times in ninety-seven (97)appearences. In his best season (2007-08), “A Licha” burried twenty-four (24) goals in twenty-seven(27) appearences, taking the Portuguese Footballer of the Year Award in the process.

Aside from Lopez’s physical attributes and skills, he is also a winner: Lisandro has won the Portuguese Liga Title four times with Porto, won the Portuguese Cup twice, and the Portuguese Super Cup once. His personal achievments include winning the aforementioned Portuguese Footballer of the Year Award in ‘07-’08, and the designation as Top Scorer in A Liga Sagres that same season.

It’s definitely a great day for OL fans.

Which sorta happened, but not exactly as I expected.

Did someone’s bunny just die? Oh wait, it was last season’s title hopes.

Instead, our beloved Jean-Mimi is going insane with his wallet. It’s as if he suddenly thinks Lyon are Real Madrid and can spend without being bothered by the price tag. To illustrate my point, let’s take a look at Lyon’s five main summer targets.

Lisandro Lopez - €24m + plus €4m in incentives
Michel Bastos – €18m + plus at least €2m incentives
Aly Cissokho – €15m + plus up to €4m in incentives
Andre-Pierre Gignac – €25m
Loic Remy – €16m + Anthony Mounier

So far, Lyon have only signed the first two, but Lyon are dead serious but acquiring the remaining three. The ink on Lopez’s contract is barely dry, and Bastos will be putting pen to paper in the next two or three days. Furthermore, Lyon are also confident over Cissokho (though with Porto, you never know – their president is even crazier than ours). The only two question marks are Gignac and Remy, both of whom are being zealously guarded by their clubs.

Lyon are buying Bastos so he can’t humiliate us anymore.

I’m okay with the amount spent on Lopez because he’s very experienced, he’s an international, he has a proven track record in Europe (which is key, in Lyon’s case), and Porto wanted to take advantage of the fact that Lyon were desperate to replace Karim Benzema. Even the amount we’re spending on Bastos doesn’t make me uneasy because A) It’s Lille, B) Seydoux Connection, and C) After Lyon spent a similar amount on Kader I’m-A-Waste-of-Space Keita, Lille can charge us whatever they want.

But here is where I’m getting concerned. Porto bought Cissokho last January for €300,000 from some tiny Portuguese club no one has ever heard of. Last year, Cissokho was plying his trade in the French second division. But after a really good game against Manchester United in the Champions League quarterfinals, he’s suddenly hot property, with Porto demanding over 30 times what they paid him for despite having him for only 5 months. Damn, that’s good business.

The worst part is that Lyon are actually willing to meet Porto’s €15m evaluation (Lyon tried to bid lower…if you consider €12m low…but Porto told Lyon to fuck off, and then Aulas got scared). The only reason things are still hung up is that the two clubs are bickering over incentives.

According to AC Milan, Cissokho has a tooth problem. I can kinda believe it.

Lyon’s bid of €13.5m + Anthony Mounier (who himself is valued at €5m) has been rejected because Nice want €18m + Mounier + Miralem Pjanic on loan. In response, Lyon will now be sending a renewed bid of €15m + the player. What is embarrassing is that Remy, an OL youth product, was sold last season for €8m to Nice (in order to compensate for the purchases of Ederson and Hugo Lloris). And now Lyon have to pay over twice as much to get him back because they underestimated his talent. This all seems pointless to me because I’m sure next year we’ll be trying to buy back Mounier.

The biggest transfer saga of all is shaping up to be Gignac’s. Toulouse don’t want to sell their best player, who was also the highest scorer in L1 last season. They especially don’t want to sell him to Lyon because they claim that Aulas is being classless by pursuing a player who is “off-limits.” Normally, I’d sympathize because Lyon go through that all the time, but then I remember what Toulouse did when they signed Gignac (he had already signed a pre-contract with Lille, and Lorient had also come to terms with Lille, when Toulouse lured him away with a better contract at the last possible second. It was a scandal). Now Toulouse are saying that they will only sell Gignac to Lyon if Aulas ponies up €25m. Lyon’s €15m offer has already been refused, though I feel Aulas might be willing to go up to €20m.

But here is the batshit crazy part. Assuming that Lyon get all five players (which might happen given the aggressive way they are pursuing both Remy and Gignac), Lyon will be spending at least €83m, not counting incentives. If Lyon end up paying the full asking price for Remy and Gignac, that number could catapult to €98m. Add in those incentives, and Lyon might end up as the second biggest spender this summer after Real Madrid.

Wait.

WHAT?

Gignac has been taking Michael Essien lessons.

Realistically, I expect Aulas to whittle down Gignac’s price a little – at least he could if Toulouse would stop ignoring his phone calls. On the other hand, I think Nice are pretty firm about their price, especially since Remy isn’t sure he wants to return, as opposed to Gignac, who is boycotting training. Lyon would also prefer to sign only one of the two, either Gignac or Remy, though the chief of operations, Marino Faccioli, is keen to point out that Lyon can afford both of them quite easily. But Aulas isn’t sure which club will gave in first, as both Nice and Toulouse can be rather stubborn – and there is always the possibility that neither Gignac or Remy will be released – so for now, Lyon are acting as if they want both.

While I’ve always advocated that one should not be afraid to spend money, I’m a little worried that breaking the bank this summer is more of a reactionary response to losing the title – and everything else – than sound planning. Furthermore, I didn’t even realize Lyon had that much money to spend, especially considering the piss poor season they just had. Granted, Lyon did sell Benzema for €35m and Keita for €8.5m, but that’s pretty much it for Lyon’s sales this summer. Juninho left on a free, and if Fabio Grosso leaves, I don’t see him going for more than €3m. So that’s hardly anything when compared to the expenditures. At the rate Aulas is going, he’s going to make the EPL look like cheapos.

Even Lyon’s alternative targets, left back Andre Santos of Corinthians and Kleber, a striker at Cruzeiro, may each end up costing upwards of €15m. In fact, I don’t think Lyon have any targets this summer under €12m. Now, I realize that prices are inflated all over the globe at the moment, but surely some quality players can be found in the €8m range. I just hope Lyon aren’t deluding themselves into thinking that more expensive = more quality. After all, Juninho, the best OL player ever, came to Lyon as a free agent.

And then there’s the fact that Lyon play in FRANCE. This EPL-esque spending is definitely a world removed from L1’s next biggest spender, Marseille (who, coincidentally, have yet to hit €40m despite bringing in seven players). The last thing I want is for Lyon to go into debt. Even though the departures of Benzema and Juninho have lightened the wage bill, money doesn’t grow on trees, especially in L1.

On the other hand, I’m thrilled that Lyon are finally throwing away the “oh-but-I’m-a-small-club” mentality. Lyon’s expenses are matching their ambitions (though I also said that last season, and we all saw how that turned out), and for once, they’re more concerned with having an awesome team than they are about profit.

Also, it’s kind of cool how Lyon are acting like such assholes in the transfer market. Not that I in anyway want to encourage this sort of behavior, as I always hate it when bigger clubs just waltz in and expect that they can sign our players, but it’s nice to be able to do the same. Because contrary to public belief, Lyon often don’t get their way.

In any event, if Lyon get four of the five players from their list, they will have a squad that can challenge both domestically and in Europe (that being the main goal, I feel). At the very least, L1 promises to be very interesting next season.

Guys, I’ve missed you all! I feel like I’ve been away from this blog for far too long. Thankfully, John stepped up to pick up all my slack, but expect to see more of me around from now on!

First Juni, then Michael Jackson, now this!!! This is honestly too much loss for a human being to be subjected to in the span of a couple of months. In case you’ve been living on the moon these last few days, Karim Benzema has left Lyon!!! I think I’m finally starting to get over the shock of this, and the seriousness of this developement- along with the sadness- is starting to sink-in. We all new that this was Karim’s last year, and were pretty convinced that all the rumors of bids by the big clubs were either rubbish or would be rebuffed, since the player himself stated he didn’t want to move before the WC ‘10. But, it appears that the moment Real actually came calling, it would be too much for Benzema to resist. Dam you David Villa!!!

This season has indeed been a sad one for OL: not only did it see departure of our beloved captain Juninho Pernambucano, but now we say goodbye to the greatest football “product” Lyon has produced, Karim Benzema.

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Karim burst upon the scene this year with a prolific scoring run in the CL, joining the elite strikers of Europe.

Karim is a veritabale son of Lyon. He was born in the city and is a product of OL’s youth system, signing a contract with them at the age of nine. From a young age, his precocious talent stood-out amongst his peers and for many of the staff within the youth system, there was never a sliver of doubt that Karim would one day rise to greatness. He would have the first of many impressive seasons, scoring a whopping thirty-eight goals with Lyon’s U-16 team. Karim’s inate talent and confidence would bolt him into the senior squad, at the ripe age of 17. OL personnel would recall Benzema going-up to the senior squad strikers and telling them that he would be taking their spot soon.

The ‘07-’08 season created and opening for Benzema: With the depature of OL’s most talented attackers e.g., Sylvain Wiltord, John Carew, and Florent Malouda- as well as Fred’s injury, Karim was handed the reigns of the attack by new coach Alain Perrin. Along with fellow phenom cadet Hatem Ben Arfa, they brought great hope and high expectations that OL would reach new heights one day and bring something special for many years to come. But it wasn’t to be so. We saw glimpses of tantalizing interplay between the two startlets in that season of ‘07-’08 when they would both come away with honors: Karim took L1 Player of the Year, after leading the league with twenty goals scored, and HBA would take Best Young Player of the Year award.

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The ‘08-’09 season saw that relationship shater, with HBA at the center of many locker room scandals and testimonials from other players that both of their egos had gotten out of control. Karim began the ‘08-’09 season bereft of his side-kick, as HBA made the exit during the summer mercato to Marseille. Center stage was now his alone, and it was his chance to show what he could achieve on his own, and that he did . He did not dissapoint, Benzema put OL on his back and racked up an impressive goal talley through a large part of the season, in spite of the new coach’s heavily defensive style of play.

But the young striker could only do so much of the lifting. After a prolific scoring run during a span of eleven goals in twenty-two matches, the burden became too much, and Karim hit the proverbial “wall,” only finding the back of the net three times in thirteen matches. But Karim would finally escape the drought scoring twice in a pivotal match against Marseille near the end of the season in the Velodrome, a match that few expected us to survive. Karim’s scores in that match were instrumental in the squad’s escape from a nine-game winless span that saw Bordeaux overtake them as leaders and OM take second, as well as pushing Lyon to the brink of elimination from the CL, a battle they would have to fight until the penultimate match of the season. Karim- along with Juni- helped carry the team in the last four matches of the season, Benzema scoring three key goals in the last two matches before the meaningless season finale against Toulouse, ending the season with a tally of seventeen, landing him second in scoring, tied with PSG’s Gillaume Hoarau and high scorer Andre Pierre Gignac of Toulouse. This would seal Lyon’s grip on third place and a trip back to the CL.

Despite his youth, Karim was a linchpin at OL. He had turned the outcome of matches in OL’s favor, many a time in his short career. The most important instances that come to my mind are the aforementioned Marseille match, as well at the final match of the CL group stages last year, when an OL- decimated by injury- were on the brink of elimination vs. Rangers at Ibrox, until Karim came-up with a brace, that saw us win 3-0 and through to the knock-out rounds. And who could forget the following CL match which saw Benzema score vs. one of the titans of football, Man U at Gerland. The score put us in the lead, and almost saw us pull-out a win were it not for our incompetent defense allowing a late goal that ended the game in a 1-1 draw.

Yes, despite all the allegations of swollen ego by fellow players, and ramblings about leaving his home club for greener pastures, Karim Benzema, although never a leader, was undoubtedly a large part of the engine that drove Lyon in the last couple of years. His prolific scoring led Lyon and very often carried the team during dark moments. He will be sorely missed, and no matter who is brought in, it’s highly doubtful that we will ever have someone who fills us with the hope that Karim’s prodigal talent gave us; a hope that such blossoming talent would contribute to the elevation of our club in the future, even if it was just for a short while.

Karim won four titles with OL(’05,’06,’07, and ‘08). His career stats with OL are as follows:

I thought we should do our version of goal.com’s article, maybe they’ve pulled-it. Anyway, although I thought that the author got a couple of things right in his article, he was, IMO, shooting too low. Now that JMA has renewed my confidence in OL’s possibly getting serious this mercato, lets see what we can come-up with, that while being slightly more ambitious than goal, is still realistic. Remember, I’m not talking about bringing in Vidic and Evra, let’s keep it realistic.

Lloris
Clerc-Cris-Boumsong-Morel
Govou/Remy-Toulalan-Makoun-Drenthe/Mancini
Perez/Erding-Benzema

Left Back: I’m really banging my head as to who else to include in the left back category, but for now, My choice is Jeremy Morel of Lorient. He’s put in some fine performances this year, and he woudln’t break the bank either. Only downside: lack of big game experience. Would be nice to have Drenthe or some more experienced player as a back-up or even starter in more important CL games.

LMF/LW:

Amantino Mancini: If Mancini is let go by Inter at 10 mill or under, his acquisition is a must. Hopefully his loss of form is just due to lack of playing time in Mourinho’s squad and he can regain his Roma form in no time. His “polyvalence”-aside from his abundant tactical skills- make him a real prize being able to slide into LMF/LWF, AMF as well as his more natural RMF/RWF role.

Royston Drenthe: Would fullfill our needs all along the left-hand side, even providing a back-up left back. If his reported price tag is really 13mill, then that’s a steal for the potential upside that this talent can bring to the club.

Strikers:

Loic Remy: If it’s true that management didn’t include a buy-back clause in Remy’s sale contract, then that has to be one of the most bone-headed moves in their history; what a lack of foresight. And another thing I don’t get is how are they still willing to sell Anthony Mounier to Nice if they are so insistant that they will not sell Remy back- unless it’s a ploy to drive-up his price of course. Anyway, like Mancini, Remy could fill alot of holes: he could fill-in on the left and right when Govou’s out, partner at starting striker next to Karim in a 4-4-2, or give us a #2/#3 back-up option at CF if another striker is brought in.

Melvut Erding: At 10mill, he’s a a less expensive option with plenty of potential. He could pair up with Benz or be a potent #2 option.

Lisandro Lopez: No need to say much. He’s a prolific world class striker, who will pair-up with Karim, wreak havoc on defenses, and ease the pain of Benz’s departure in the near future.

I didn’t include most of Real’s Dutch exodus, because most of their salaries are prohibitive. Also, don’t forget to leave your opinions regarding potential left backs.

Oh, Ronan, if ever there was a post for you, this is it buddy.

Fred, who is currently suntanning in Brazil, has decided never to return to Lyon. He’s terminated his contract and is now free to sign with Fluminense. His decision has been made official by Lyon. This certainly can’t be a surprise to anyone – he hasn’t been selected for the first team since December and has been limited to one or two appearances on Lyon’s CFA team (he apparently cleared out his locker several weeks back).

Fred way back in ancient times.

While I’m mostly happy, I do feel a few pangs of regret. When on form, he was a great striker and scored some truly memorable goals. And at least during his first two years at the club (back when he was mentally stable), he was a happy presence in the locker room and loved by the players and fans alike.

But his recent behavior has exposed the man he’s become, which is a petty, money hungry player making demands that he doesn’t deserve. You can read about his many personality defects here. As for his monetary complaints, I’ll explain further.

As most of you know, Fred backtracked on his word and decided to leave in the winter. Lyon were okay with this because this meant that they could get at least a nominal transfer fee, and it would also give them the opportunity to recruit a new striker. But Fred turned down interest from Roma, Werder Bremen, and Valencia, as well as concrete offers from Stoke City and several Brazilian clubs because he wanted to be in a competitive team in Europe that would also pay him a lot of money. That left Tottenham, but even then, he couldn’t agree on wages with them. Finally Tottenham agreed to negotiate further and set up another meeting…but Fred never showed up! And since that was in the last few days of the transfer window, that it was for a January departure.

Fred still wanted to leave, and with Puel no longer even wanting him around, Lyon agreed to end his contract. But then in early February, Fred’s brother accused Lyon of withholding certain bonuses, which he claimed was the reason for the hold up. I already wrote about that here, but to recap, Lyon pointed out that Fred himself agreed to forgo those bonuses in exchange for giving him to Fluminense without demanding a transfer fee.

Fred in the present.

Having been pushed around for so long by the Brazilian diva, Lyon refused to budge on this matter. Finally, it looked like things had been resolved last weekend, and Lyon agreed to terminate his contract. But then, Fred failed to show up to sign the papers. This really really pissed off Aulas, who also accused Fred of mistreating his own wife (read about his family issues here).

Now, I’m not sure how it works when it comes to contract termination, though I imagine a great deal of it has to do with who is doing the terminating. Each contract has stipulations in them that should a contract be terminated, the disadvantaged party will receive some amount of compensation. It’s why Fred’s termination has been taking so long – Fred wanted to receive compensation despite the fact that it was he who was trying to leave (technically, he wanted his “bonuses”). Now that Fred has terminated his contract so abruptly, he must have decided to give up on that extra money he was hoping for from OL. We’ll just have to wait for further details on what transpired.

What we do know is that we will never see Fred in a Lyon jersey again. Of course this leaves Lyon in a very vulnerable position. They are short of one striker and still have a long and arduous campaign ahead of them. But at least they are free of the ~drama~.

And just to prove that I’m not entirely a hateful person, here is a clip of Fred’s most famous goal at Lyon. I’ll do my best to remember him for that instead of all the crap he’s pulled in the last two years.

First off, it’s INTERNATIONAL TIME!!! That’s good news and bad. Good because some players get some rest, bad because others get worked even harder. The list of players don’t contain surprises, but it’s a smaller group of players this time thanks to injuries (Francois Clerc, Sidney Govou, John Mensah) and the fact that some countries don’t have friendlies scheduled despite the international break (Miralem Pjanic).

The call ups:

France (vs. Messi Argentina – 2/11/09): Jeremy Toulalan, Karim Benzema, Hugo Lloris, Jean-Alain Boumsong (who actually deserves it, no joke guys).

Cameroon (vs. Guinea, 2/11/09): Jean II Makoun

Côte d’Ivoire (vs. Turkey, 2/11/09): Kader Keita

Sweden (vs. Austria, 2/11/09): Kim Kallstrom

Italy (vs. Brazil, 2/10/09): Fabio Grosso *

* This game already took place today, but I forgot that Italy was playing a day earlier than everyone else. Oops. By the way, Italy lost 2-0, and Grosso – the sole Italian scorer – had his goal discounted. Poor guy.

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John Mensah has made the African Finest XI, a list based on the votes of the coaches of the 53 teams that make up the Confederation of African football. Our favorite Glass Ghanean joins an all star cast that includes Samuel Eto’o, Michael Essien, Mohammed Aboutreika, Emmanuel Adebayor, Yaya Toure, and Taye Taiwo.

What I’d like to know is what games the voters were watching, because I can count on one hand how many times John Mensah has played this year. Even before arriving at Lyon, he was oft-injured at Rennes, and his fitness was so-so during Ghana’s African Cup of Nations campaign (I should know, I blogged for Ghana during that month). Even his NT coach is frustrated by his injuries. So I’m just a little bit confused on how Mensah got into such an exclusive list. Was it his muscles? His personality? His smile?!?!?!

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Kader Keita crashed his Lamborghini into a van yesterday while on the way to the airport to join his NT teammates. Thankfully, no one was injured. The police checked to make sure he wasn’t taking drunk driving lessons from Sid the Kid, and once they verified that it was just a “simple” car accident, the police escorted him to the airport so he could make his flight on time.

Sigh. The life of a footballer.

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Fred is trying to leave Lyon again. Ugh.

I’m really tired of all his drama. He’s like a little kid who announces to everyone that he’s running away while secretly expecting everyone to beg him to stay. Except no one is, so he’s sulking even more than usual.

Can’t he just leave a note on his locker like everyone else?

For those of you who care, basically Fred has come to a very lucrative agreement with Fluminense. Unlike in Europe, the Brazilian mercato ends in early April, so that’s the only place he can go to right now. The Brazilian club has agreed to pay him a monthly salary of €120,000 as well as a signing bonus of €680,000. However, Fred’s agent (and brother) is claiming that the negotiations are stalled because Lyon aren’t paying Fred all the money that he’s owed (basically his performance bonuses).

However, Lyon have hit back saying that last December, Fred, in the presence of Bernard Lacombe, Jean-Michel Aulas, and club administrator Marino Faccioli, asked that he be released from his contract so that he could be sign for free in Brazil, and in return, the club wouldn’t have to pay him any of the bonuses stipulated in his contact.

Except now, Fred is demanding those bonuses, and Lyon won’t budge. The club’s official comment was that they find his lapse in memory ironic.

Ironic is a polite way of saying something much more foul, if you ask me. It says a lot that Puel, who besides Karim Benzema, doesn’t have any other serious option up front, is willing to let Fred leave halfway through the season despite the fact that the title race is in full swing.

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Hugo: Ederson left me for the Brazilians.
Jeremy: That’s okay, I’ll be your new BFF!
Hugo: Yay! First thing we’ll do is get you a better wardrobe.
Inara: Awww. Cute. *Cuddle*
Karim: *Embarrassed* I can’t believe I have to sit next to the dorky old people. This is so totally hurting my ~hip~ image.

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And since we’re on the subject of overly dramatic strikers, Karim Benzema has softened his previous words (when he said that he would probably leave if Lyon got kicked out of the CL knockout rounds) by saying that he’s happy at Lyon, and that most likely, he’ll stay until the World Cup. But he was careful to also say that he’ll take a long look at his situation this summer, taking Lyon’s CL campaign into account. Comments from his BFF Eric Abidal might have had something to do with his recent about-face.

If Benzema does leave, there is at least one striker who wouldn’t mind coming to Lyon. Loic Remy, despite having a great season with Nice, has never lost his desire for making an impact at his childhood club, and he admitted that should an offer come, he wouldn’t be averse to it. This comes on the heels of the news that there is a buyout clause in his contract just for Lyon.

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And in somewhat good news, Mathieu Bodmer (remember him?) played with the CFAs this weekend, his first real game in months. Francois Clerc was also supposed to play, but at the last minute the club doctor decided to wait a while longer, especially since knee injuries are in danger of relapses if they are not properly healed.