Latest on the Transfer Front: MEGA Post

By: Inara | June 24th, 2008

The latest news from this week…Due to the amount of material covered, I didn’t post links to the original sources like I normally do, but if you want them, let me know.

OUTGOING:

FRED: Is it just me, or does Fred spend an inordinate amount of time making life difficult for the rest of us? Every six months, there is always a new transfer saga involving him, and it’s getting really annoying. Lyon have offered him a contract extension, which he is still “considering,” but it’s hard to tell if he just wants more money (most likely – he’s greedy) or if he genuinely wants to leave.

Despite having an output that was at best average this year, Fred has a whole host of clubs interested in his services. He’s currently being tracked by Roma, who have been linked with him on and off for the past year or so. A while back, Roma considered offering Mancini in exchange for Fred and cash, but Lyon thought that price too high. Roma are still interested, but no word yet on how much they’d be willing to pay.

Fred has received definite interest from several German clubs, most notably Werder Bremen, who like his profile and would like to see him play with Diego. But Fred doesn’t want to play in the Bundesliga and turned them away. He does, however, want to play in Spain and is currently being tracked by Valencia. The question is if Valencia will be able to afford Fred – with the crappy year they’ve had, their finances are pretty bad.

Claude Puel hasn’t said whether he wants to keep Fred or not, and knowing Puel, he might find Fred too much of a drama queen for a squad that needs stability. But Bernard Lacombe says Fred will have to honor his contract, which doesn’t make sense when you take Lyon’s operating policy into consideration. With his contract ending in 2009, if Fred doesn’t sign an extension, Lyon have to sell him this summer if they want to prevent him walking away for free next year.

GREGORY COUPET: Coupet said during Euro 2008 that he had no interest in playing for another French club, which squashed those PSG rumors. He wanted a foreign adventure, and if he didn’t get a suitable offer, then he’d just retire. That’s when the media had claimed that Coupet had all but signed for Tottenham, which eventually turned out to be an idle rumor.

But it looks like Coupet really will be signing for Atletico Madrid – there are even pictures of him in a hotel in Spain. Word is that Coupet convinced the club to lower his already ridiculous €3m buyout clause to €1.5m, which has got to be one of the steals of the year for a goalkeeper who is easily among the top ten in the world and one who still has two or three years left in the tank.

He’ll be signing a two year contract with an optional third year. He should be presented by Atletico sometime this week.

KIM KALLSTROM: The battle for Kongo Kim is once again heating up. Last year, Lyon turned down a hefty €14m offer from Valencia because the club wasn’t ready to let him go. This year they are, though some were concerned that he had devalued in price (which doesn’t make much sense since his second season at Lyon was better than his first).

Thankfully, that’s not the case. Sevilla really want Kallstrom to fill up the gaping hole in their midfield and are prepared to offer €14m for him. Why so much? Because Everton, Hamburg, and now Inter Milan are also interested in Kallstrom, so Sevilla are desperate to tie up this deal and not have it drag out. Lyon are apparently satisfied with the price and are waiting for a formal offer.

Kallstrom says that he considers La Liga the best in the world and that he would be thrilled the play there. I’m pretty sure Sevilla would be able to meet his salary demands, so unless there is a dramatic eleventh hour reversal, expect this transfer to happen.

HATEM BEN ARFA: This kid is taking lessons from Fred on how to create drama. While he hasn’t officially ruled out the possibility of staying at Lyon, it seems to be understood that he’ll be leaving this summer. Puel said that he intended to talk to Ben Arfa personally before he decided on anything, but rumor has it that none of the technical staff want Ben Arfa to stay. And neither, apparently, do most of his teammates.

He has a lot of clubs lined up for his signature. Manchester United, Barcelona, and Chelsea have expressed interest, Tottenham, Arsenal, and PSG have formal contact to discuss terms, while Marseille, Atletico, and Roma have submitted formal offers.

Ben Arfa has already refused Atletico and Roma and has stated that he would prefer to stay within France for another year or two. OM are his choice, and he’s been spotted looking for apartments in Marseille. However, Lyon won’t let their prodigy go for peanuts and are asking between €17m to upwards of €20m.

On Marseille’s website, Pape Diouf admitted that they were in discussions with both Lyon and Ben Arfa but that negotiations were difficult. First, €17m would pretty much eat up what they earned from the sale of Samir Nasri to Arsenal. Secondly, Ben Arfa is asking for a steep increase in wages, something that Marseille isn’t prepared to agree to at this point.

However, Marseille is going to have to come to an agreement soon because I suspect other clubs are waiting to see what will happen before sneaking in with a better offer for Ben Arfa. While I personally think Aulas is crazy in letting Ben Arfa go to Marseille (hello, the team that defeated us twice this last season) and that his whole “oh let’s keep L1 strong” mantra is kinda fishy, I also know that Aulas will do everything he can to encourage a bidding war.

ANTHONY REVEILLERE: Fiorentina need someone to replace the outgoing Tomas Ujfalusi, and Reveillere doesn’t want to rotate with Francois Clerc anymore. Plus I think Reveillere has decided by now that his international career is pretty much over, so he might as well leave France.

Fiorentina offered around €4.5m for Reveillere, which is a seriously low balled bid. Lyon said hell no and are demanding around €7m for him. Fiorentina, who have already agreed to terms with Reveillere, are still deciding if they want to maintain pursuit or find a cheaper target.

MILAN BAROS: This guy is an perpetual orphan. He goes from club to club, totally unwanted. His stint at Portsmouth was a failure in the sense that he didn’t score a single goal while he was there. But then the single game he played in Euro 2008 reminded us that wait, Baros can be dangerous when he remembers to.

His agent said that he had planned talks with Lyon to see if Baros is a part of next season’s plans, but it doesn’t look very positive at the moment. He’s got some clubs interested in him, including West Bromwich Albion, Werder Bremen, Bolton, and Besiktas. Bolton are prepared to offer €5m for his signature, which is about right (actually, I would say that it’s more than he’s worth, but that would be mean).

SIDNEY GOVOU: Aulas says that he expects Govou to accept the extension (and pay raise, I’m sure) to his contract.

SEE, I TOLD YOU SO.

For all his talk about leaving, he never is going to leave. Ever. Do you know why? It’s not because of his loyalty to Lyon but because no other club will pay him such insane wages (fyi, Govou is the 46th most highest paid footballer in the world – he gets paid more than Peter Cech and Andrea Pirlo!).

SEBASTIEN SQUILLACI: This is another situation that’s growing increasingly complicated. Sevilla are in the search of a quality central defender who is experienced and affordable. Squillaci is unhappy about the uncertainty regarding his position in the starting lineup. Sevilla, meet Toto. Toto, meet Sevilla.

Sevilla have already come to an agreement with Squillaci and have forwarded a €5m offer to Lyon, who agreed to the transfer on principle. But Lyon thought that the offer was too low and are demanding something like €7m. So then Sevilla offered €5.5m Close but no cigar.

Things looked stalled for awhile, then Sevilla came back into the picture and said, “Okay, we’ll raise our offer.” But then Puel decided that he didn’t want Squillaci to go. Except Sevilla don’t plan on giving up. And Squillaci won’t force a move. So…

Stay tuned.

MATHIEU BODMER: PSG are interested, but Bodmer isn’t going anywhere. Though if Bodmer doesn’t play more next season, he most likely will leave.

FABIO GROSSO: No one except Lyon wanted him last season, but now that he’s had such a fabulous Euro 2008 campaign (the only OL player besides Jeremy Toulalan who can hold his head up about that), he’s suddenly on the most wanted listed in Italy. Juventus, AC Milan, Roma, and Fiorentina would like a bite out of Grosso’s Dolce and Gabbana clad ass.

Too bad for them because Lyon aren’t interested in selling, and more importantly, Grosso isn’t interested in leaving.

THE CHILDREN: Some of Lyon’s reserves are also moving around this summer. Aurelien Badin will be joining his old teammate Gregory Bettiol at Troyes. Anthony Mounier will be chilling with Loic Remy at Nice next season (Mounier will be on loan – no word yet on whether Nice will have the option to buy). And in what took me by surprise, Alexandre Bouchard signed a three-year contract with Chateauroux. I’m surprised because Bouchard was supposed to be The Next Big Thing, so I wasn’t expecting Lyon to sell him outright. Loan him, maybe, but not sell.

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INCOMING:

JOHN MENSAH: This guy is definitely one of France’s best defenders – immense, in control, just a beast really. He’s also looking for a move out of Rennes this summer, and he shouldn’t be too expensive.

The problem for Lyon is that Mensah’s preference is for a move to England. His family are all English speaking, plus his BFF Sulley Muntari plays there. Oh, and let’s not even get into the issue of wages.

STEPHAN LICHTSTEINER: A player who spent the last couple of years under the guidance of Puel, he’s been earmarked as a potential replacement for Reveillere. He’s great at going forwards though defensively, he’s not the best. But he’s certainly good enough to get noticed by Real Madrid, and he’s been under Lyon’s radar for some time now.

A Swiss international, he’s experienced both for his national team and in the Champions League with Lille. Puel also knows him really well, so that could be an advantage as well. However, if Lyon really do land Lichtsteiner, Lille will officially have become our satelitte club. And that would really suck for them.

MICHAEL CHRETIEN: One of the best players at overachieving Nancy this season, Chretien is ready to leave for another club. Lyon like his profile and are considering him as another alternative in the event Reveillere leaves.

He’s gotten a lot of interest from Sevilla, but it’s believed that Lyon are the favorites for his signature. Plus Nancy’s president, Jacques Rousselot, prefers the Chretien stay in France than go abroad. However, in recent days, Lyon have been backing out because Nancy’s asking price is too high. According to the media, Lyon are eying a mysterious player in Brazil instead.

DIEGO MILITO: Puel had Milito on his list of players that could play alongside of Karim Benzema. Milito looked to be an achievable target because his club, Real Zaragoza, was relegated to Secunda for next season. Unfortunately, Tottenham have stepped in and are now the favorites for his signature. Lyon are also looking at Johan Elmander and Bafetimbi Gomis as alternatives.

SEBASTIEN POCOGNOLI: A player that Lyon have been interested in for a long while, AZ Alkmaar have suddenly decided that he’s not transferable. Which is too bad because he would have been a great option at LB. While it’s not clear whether Lyon are going to take Alkmaar at their word and back off, hopefully the club is examining other options.

SERGIO GARCIA: He’s another member of the sinking ship named Real Zaragoza. A Spanish international, he’s a winger/attacking midfielder. Lyon haven’t made any formal overtures but have sent scouts to watch on him on several occasions.

YURI ZHIRKOV: !!!!! I guess Russian is the new flavor of the month, with them doing so well in Euro 2008. The world might be captivated by his teammates Roman Pavlyuchenko and Andrei Arshavin, but Zhirkov is also a key part of Russia’s success this summer. He’s very versatile and can play any where on the left side, though as an attacker, his best position is LW (ahem, the Ben Arfa position).

With both Kallstrom and Ben Arfa looking to leave, Lyon are without any true left sided attackers (okay, there is Grosso), but as admirers of Zhirkov, they have made preliminary contact with CSKA Moscow and are waiting for Puel’s final verdict – I guess Aulas and Lacombe need that now – before making a formal offer.

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