A Delectable Luxury Import from the Land of LOSC

By: John | July 17th, 2009

Lyon Can Finally Fly Straight Again: OL’s New Winger Swoops into Town, Hopefully to Take Us to New Heights.

No, it’s not a Ferrari nor Beluga caviar, it’s a Brazilian winger. Like and injured bird, OL’s left wing- along with a slew of other issues- hindered it’s abilitiy to fly as strong as it was capable of, but now it’s finally healed, stronger than ever, and ready for lift-off. Michel Bastos will be terrorizing the right flanks of opposing defenses next year, in an OL kit. He arrived in Lyon with his family on Wednesday and formaly signed Thursday evening.

I have to say that if it weren’t for our pressing needs at striker, this is would be the most important signing of the summer; it’s certainly the most exciting for me. Jean-mimi has indeed been flexing his muscles in this mercato, and after no negotiations, JMA just straight-up paid Lille’s asking price for the Brazilian, and has more than filled one of our most urgent postional needs of the club, in left winger. The deal is said to be worth 18mill and a four year duration.

Ever since last season, and the departure of Hatem Ben Arfa to Marseille, Lyon has lacked a credible left winger. Claude Puel experimented and made do with what was available to him: from Ederson to Cesar Delgado to Anthony Mounier(who was/is still a little green) to Miralem Pjanic, but nothing really worked. But this season Aulas, like a father going out hunting to bring back dinner for the family, brought back not only a very impressive catch in Lisandro Lopez, but an equally important bounty in Bastos. But the predator in Aulas isn’t satisfied and he isn’t going to stop there: Aly Cissokho, negotiations are said to be rapped-up and Aly should be in Lyon shortly for his physical and signing; and Andre-Pierre Gignac is still very much in his sights as well. The striker is meeting with TFC team president today to plead his case for a move to OL. And then there’s the seemingly dead Remy negotiations, that were shut-down by OGC management, not from Aulas’ lack of effort.

Michel Bastos is a winger that practically has it all. He’s fast, a dribbler, has a powerful left foot, a scorer(he scored (14) goals, 4th in scoring last season), a passer, a playmaker(led the league in assists with (9) last season), a penalty kick-taker, and a deadly free-kick specialist; a great replacement for that other Brazilian that scored a couple of freekicks for us over the past few years. In short, he’s actually worth 18mill, unlike that other Lille player we purchased.

Since joining Lille in ‘06, he’s had (25) goals in (97) appearences. I’m not sure about his crossing abilities, so maybe some of you guys could comment. Bastos also brings with him the added benefit of being able to play anywhere on the left flank. That means we killed two birds with one stone and got ourselves a left sided offensive player and a back-up left back all-in-one. Michel gives us a presence at LW we haven’t really had since Florent Malouda. Although Ben Arfa was a talented youth, he couldn’t offer the maturity nor were his skills honed to level of these other two players- who knows if they ever will be. Along with the emminent coming of Aly Cissokho, Lyon may yet again have a left side that is as powerful- if not more- than that Eric Abidal-Malouda partnership of years past. Aside from his natural abilities, Bastos is bringing with him a strong desire to impress on the European stage and giving Brazilian NT coach Dunga no other option than calling-him-up for WC ‘10. This is the most exciting pick-up of the mercato for me, and I can’t wait to see him in action.

Some of Bastos’ magic: