Player Contracts
By: Inara | July 11th, 2007For those of you wondering about the contractual situation at Lyon…
Players
1 - COUPET - 2010 (1972)
2 - CLERC - 2010 (1983)
3 - CRIS - 2011 (1977)
4 - MULLER - 2008 (1976)
5 - BODMER - 2011 (1982)
6 - KALLSTROM - 2010 (1982)
7 - BAROS - 2010 (1981)
8 - JUNINHO - 2010 (1975)
9 - FRED - 2009 (1983)
10 - BENZEMA - 2010 (1987)
11 - GROSSO - 2011 (1977)
12 - REMY - 2009 (1987)
14 - GOVOU - 2010 (1979)
15 - DIARRA - 2010 (1981)
18 - BEN ARFA - 2010 (1987)
20 - REVEILLERE - 2011 (1979)
21 - BELHADJ - 2011 (1982)
22 - WILTORD - 2008 (1974)
23 - KEITA - 2011 (1981)
24 - BEYNIE - 2009 (1987)
25 - HARTOCK - 2008 (1987)
26 - FABIO SANTOS - 2010 (1980)
28 - TOULALAN - 2010 (1983)
29 - SQUILLACI - 2010 (1980)
30 - VERCOUTRE - 2008 (1980)
32 - PAILLOT - youth (1987)
35 - RIOU - 2008 (1987)
36 - IDANGAR - 2007 (1984)
40 - MOUNIER - youth (1987)
Staff
A.PERRIN - 2009
C.GALTIER - 2009
J.BATS - 2010
R.DUVERNE - 2008
The fact that Sylvain Wiltord’s contract is coming to an end must be something of a relief for the management. It also looks like the club doesn’t intend to extend Patrick Muller’s contract (FYI, Muller has made it clear that his main concern is playing in Euro 2008 for Switzerland - he may return to Switzerland permanently after that). Reserve goalkeeper Joan Hartock also looks like he’ll be leaving the club. He’s a young talent and should he develop further, he could probably start for a midtable L1 club one day - which isn’t good enough for Lyon obviously.
Also note that Fred’s contract is up in two years. Next year will be crucial. I can see Aulas not wanting to extend his contract if his diva attitude doesn’t disappear, but if Fred shows that he matured, Lyon will fight to keep him. Lyon will also undoubtedly extend Loic Remy’s and Romain Beynie’s contracts, as well as offering ones to Sandy Paillot and Anthony Mounier.
The Remy Riou and Remy Vercoutre Situation:
Personally, I’m relieved to see that Lyon isn’t taking steps to extend Remy Vercoutre’s stay. He’s been very loyal and has stuck with the club despite being a backup keeper. And he came through nearly every time he was required too. But the Coupe de la Ligue defeat still looms in my memory, and while it’s not entirely his fault, that was a very careless error he made, and I don’t know if I’m ready to forgive him for that.
Unfortunately, the club has fucked itself over in the goalkeeper situation. I think Aulas expected Vercoutre to leave after this year, and since he’s a 26 year old keeper with a lot of experience at the highest levels, it makes sense that he would want to start somewhere, even if it’s at a smaller club. Certainly, his comments last March indicated that.
It’s probably why Lyon treated the situation with Remy Riou, one of their youth prodigies, so carelessly. Riou spent the last year on loan at Lorient, where he did exceptionally well (as a reliable, steady, 19 year old keeper, he probably saved Lorient’s L1 status by himself - a younger version of Coupet). He’s been groomed for the sole purpose of becoming Coupet’s #2. In fact, Riou wants to be Coupet’s #2. And it all would have worked out like it was supposed to, except Vercoutre decided to hang around until the end of his contract, and Riou, not wanting to be on loan for another two years, put his foot down and is now refusing to extend with Lyon. In fact, he’s hinting that he might end up at Marseille!!!!!
Hellz no.
So Lyon might have to sell the player they had planned to name as Coupet’s replacement.
Damn you, Remy Vercoutre.
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Comments
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I really don’t understand why Riou is acting so impatient. He’s only 19 and has just made his breakthrough into the big scene and while we all agree that he’s got bright future to look forward to, he still has a lot to learn and experience. If he understands that the club is keeping its faith in him and will eventually give him a chance to shine, he should have no problem with spending a year or two on loan.
As for Vercoutre, I forgave him a long time ago and am willing to give him another shot. I know that being the second best is very hard for goalkeepers because they rarely get to see the action and just when they’re all rusty from not playing, they get forced onto the pitch for the first time in months and if they make a costly mistake they get entirely judged by it, which isn’t fair to them at all.
What you should realize is that long before Riou, there was Vercoutre and he came to this club hoping that someday he’d be rewarded for his loyalty and faith and become the number one guard. And you know what, I think he deserves it. He’s done a pretty good job as number two and until young Riou matures into a more complete player, I think it’d be better if he were to stand between the sticks.
Posted from
United States
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I agree with AllezLyonnais. The problem doesn’t come from Vercoutre, but from Riou. He doesn’t wanna be loan, but that’s the best solution for him… Vercoutre has always been the number 2. When Coupet will be too old, Vercoutre and Riou will be OL’s Goalkeepers… Riou has to be patient. He’s only 19, and in being loaning, he has the chance to play in Ligue 1 AND to belong to the most famous club in Ligue 1.
That should be ALL benefit, for him, for now.Posted from
France -
I would agree, but…
I like Vercoutre, I really do. He’s a nice guy and a great team player. But he isn’t as good as Riou, even as a second guard. There’s a reason why Lyon isn’t extending his contract, or else Aulas would have taken care of it long ago. And I’ve never been a fan of emotional decisions. The departures of Berthod and Cacapa, while tragic, had to happen for progress.
As for Riou - as a 19 year old, he obviously can’t be a starter at Lyon. But there’s a reason he’s upset with Lyon. As a loaned player, he has virtually no guarantee to be playing since all L1 teams have starting goalkeepers, and most of them second ones as well. His starting at Lorient was due to luck, but it won’t happen again - Christian Gourcuff made it clear that he’d be playing his own gk. Only two clubs right now need a second goalkeeper - Auxerre and Marseille, and they are Riou’s best bet for getting any playing time next season. The problem is they don’t want him on loan. They would prefer to buy him, especially since they know how talented he is.
Factor in the fact that his peers - Lloris, Pele, and Costil, are starting goalkeepers for L1 clubs. And Riou knows he’s just as good as they are. With on eye fixed on his international future, he really can’t afford to hold back his own development when kids like Lloris and Pele have been L1 stars for some time now.
I hope Aulas can find a compromise in all this, because to lose Riou because Vercoutre is staying an extra year would be a big mistake.
Posted from
United States -
Yeah, I dont agree with your anaylsis of Hartock Inara. I think he will be just as good as Riou if not better, my thing is he will develop later. So the question is whether or not Hartock is patient to see out Riou because Riou right now looks set to be Coupets succesor, Vercoutre no way, he never looks comfortable in goal. But, although in 3 years COupet should retire despite what he thinks, Riou will hopefully be our staring keeper, Hartock should be #2 and when Riou becomes Juventus’s next keeper lets say hypothetically, Hartock should step it. This is all hypothetical and all depends on seveal independent variables, but potential wise it seems logical for the two young guys. What ever happen to Bouchard? Also, Aymes i believe his name is, is the U-18 keeper, and he may be a Franch international…
Posted from
United States -
Also, a side note, it amazes me that Idangar is still around. He, Jacmot, Viale, Sartre, Gomez and Hima were of the same generation and are all gone. They all sucked though so thats alright
Posted from
United States -
In Hartock’s case I bow to your judgment then, as you’ve probably seen him more than I have. Though the few times I did see Hartock, he made some pretty bone headed mistakes. He’s very acrobatic though. Let’s hope that whatever happens, Lyon don’t end up being losers.
Posted from
United States -
And you have to do not forget that Vercoutre is very important for ambiance between player… and on the bench !
Posted from
France -
Yes, he is prone to mistakes Inara, really bad ones. but he is huge, and he can leap from one end of the goal to the other standing still! He is incredibly athletic and incredibly cocky, something i like in goal keepers, and only in goal keepers. He wont develop the same a Rioud, mainly because he will play for the reserves again this year and he really needs ligue 2 action. he could possibly end up doing that, but i dont know. Riou will and already has made an immediate impact, but he isnt much of a physical presence. I will put it to you this way, Hartock is Charles Itandje and Riou is Sebastien Frey. And also btw, what has happend to steve mandana’s career, a free transfer to Aston villa to be a backup, i dont know. I dont know who will come out on top, Lloris is great, Pele not so much, and the Nigerian kid at Bastia, Ejide is suppose to be fantastic.
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United States -
So now he wants to leave because he wants to play? That is such a lame excuse to quit because if it really was his intention then why the hell did he even wanna return to Lyon in the first place where he would be sitting on the bench the whole time for the next three years? Why couldn’t he just wait one more year? I think this kid’s starting to develop an attitude problem and thinks he’s already a star, which he isn’t and still has to work his way up to become one.
Maybe the club is still very much counting on Vercoutre and that’s why he’s feeling so upset. Besides, when we guaranteed him the #2 position, it was with the premise that Vercoutre will depart the club this summer and now that he hasn’t, we’re perhaps finding out who’s really the first one in line.
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United States -
Because #2 goalkeepers still get playing time. Vercoutre played a good number of matches this year. As a third choice GK on loan, Riou would be playing in the reserves, except he can’t even do that since Hartock is there.
And being #2 to Coupet at Lyon is no small thing, so I can understand why he wanted to be the backup GK at Lyon.
To be fair to Riou, he was willing to go on loan again to Lorient, but Lyon bungled up that deal by asking for more money than Lorient was willing to give (Lyon charged less last year). Considering that Lorient is doing us a favor in taking Riou while we sort out our GK situation, maybe Lyon shouldn’t have been so demanding. But now that Lorient has refused Riou thanks to Aulas’s over negotiation, the kid doesn’t have any options unless he wants to be loaned in L2. There aren’t any clubs who want a GK on loan at the moment unless it’s to be #3 except at Marseille and Auxerre, where they need a #2. So he doesn’t have any choice except to leave sadly.
Posted from
United States -
The reason why Riou can’t go back to Lorient is because he refused to extend his contract and as a result Lyon are obligated to sell him before the end of his current contract which expires next year. Lyon and Lorient had already reached an agreement.
I’m starting to get the impression that the club isn’t taking Riou all that seriously. If not, then why didn’t we offer him a long term deal (remember we only offered him a year-long extension this summer), and why was he going to have an option to buy in his contract with Lorient? And why was Hugo Lloris being linked with a move to Lyon? Yes, there must be a reason for all that’s been happening and trust me, JMA knows what he’s doing.
Posted from
United States -
Weird, according to L’Equipe, it was Lyon and Lorient which didn’t agree. It seems that after that, Riou refused the contract extension. Maybe something did happen, or the club suddenly doesn’t have Riou in their plans, but then why offer him an extension at all? It’d be easier for Lyon to have one less player on their wage bill (Lyon are paying a good part of his wages) for the next two years.
That one year contract extension they offered to Riou is more than what they have offered to Vercoutre, which is nothing (unless there is some secret deal going on, his contract expires next summer and he’d be a free agent).
Lloris was linked with Lyon at the time that Vercoutre started making noises about leaving, and of course Lyon is going to ask after him. Lloris is possibly more talented than Riou, and if Lyon could get Lloris, I’d be all for that too.
I’m sure JMA knows what he’s doing, he’s a sneaky fox, ten steps ahead of everyone else, so what else can the masses do but speculate?
Posted from
United States -
Riou’s refusal to extend his contract is what finally killed the deal because apparently Lorient and Lyon were still making efforts to sort out the financial details so that he could spend another season on loan. Something must’ve happened to swing his mood. Who knows, maybe Vercoutre is going to sign a new contract!
Regarding Riou’s contractual situation, I think it’s absolutely ridiculous that we only offered him a one-year extension. You don’t usually do that to a 19-year-old kid, but to a guy who’ll soon be moving into a retirement home and it just shows how the club isn’t taking him all too seriously (at least not as much as you are).
My understanding is that Lyon did not expect Riou to do this well when they sent him out on loan last year and his breakthrough really came as a surprise to them, so they are still not quite sure of what to make of him. In that respect, sending him on loan for another year makes a lot of sense since they are reserving their judgment.
Posted from
United States -
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