Transfer Gossip

By: John | August 19th, 2008

Lens U18 star Thimothe Kolodieczac
Lens Reserve and France U18 LB Thimothee Kolodziejczak

Well, as the transfer window nears, Lyon look to bolster their defense as well as move out some “surplus” stock. On the offensive side, everything seems to be finalized, and all that is left is the anticipated departure of Milan Baros. There have been no new developments in Baros’ potential transfer and frankly, with the transfer window closing soon, I really hope Lyon don’t get stuck with 4 strikers, especially one who can’t put the ball in the net. Now, I like Baros’ effort on the pitch, but I don’t see who would want this guy except the Czech National Team. On the defensive side, there are several pieces of news:

The search for Fabio Grosso’s back-up also continues, and looks to be getting expensive. Puel had this to say when questioned about the search for an LB: “There are two profiles for this player: one is a high-level player, capabale of playing in the Champion’s League, the other, a young player that we will continue to develop.”
Here are some potentials Lyon are looking at:

Urby Emanuelson: Emanuelson currently plays for Ajax. He is 22 years old and a former Dutch U21 star. He plays LB and LMF. He has (7) goals in (85) appearences for Ajax and (0) in (11) appearences for the Dutch U21. Price tag: 7 mill euros. Hamburg is also said to be interested.

Sebastian Pocognoli: Despite his club, Az Alkmaar, proclaiming him “unsellable” untill a few weeks back, “Poco” is suddenly on the market again- for the right price of course- (5.8 mill Euros) supposedly. Most of you already know about him, as Lyon have been interested in him for some time now. But for those of you who don’t know about him, he’s a 21 year old Belgian international. He has (2) goals in (28) appearences for his club. He’s a “Belhadj” type, as he can play just-about anywhere along the left side: LB, LWB, and LW. Both St. Etienne and Fiorentina are said to also be interested.

Danijel Pranjic: Pranjic is a Croatian international who plays for Dutch outfit, SC Heerenveen. He’s 26 years old and has (8) goals in (77) appearences for his club team. Pranjic can also play all-along the left side- LB/LWB/LWF. He loves to push foward from the LB position and has excellent ball control and rentention.

Michal Kadlec: Kadlec plays LB for AC Spartak Prague. Due to that fact that he’s being pursued by Betis Sevilla, Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund, and Hamburg SV, I’m sure the price tag should be high.

Thimothee Kolodziejczak: I feel sorry for the commentators! There’s not much information out there on Kolodziejczak, all I know is that the RC Lens reserve and French U18 player is supposedly loaded with talent. He’s also reportedly being looked at by Manchester United. His name has been the only one uttered by Lyon in there LB search. Lyon had entered into negotiations, but last week JMA let it be known that Lens were being “very greedy,” in their demands for the younster, and that Puel would look to other options if Lens’ price didn’t become more reasonable. Speculation as to the fee has it around 3 mill Euros. According to L’Equipe, the deal is very close to being signed, so we’ll wait and see.

And finally, two of Lyon’s youth academy product seem to be on the way-out:

Sandy Paillot: It looks like Paillot could be heading back to Grenoble. According to Le Dauphine Libere, Paillot could be back in Grenoble this week. Grenoble wants to renew his loan, and reportedly there is an option to buy. If the loan is finalized this week, Paillot will not be allowed to play in Saturday’s game against Lyon.

Romain Beynie: Beynie is reportedly about to sign with Belgian club, A.F.C. Tubize. Word is that he had a very good try-out with them, and he should be signing very soon.

Category: Team News and Rumors, Transfers

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