Transfer Rumors and Tidbits
By: John | July 21st, 2008
Although we’ve all been waiting for the eventual signing of The Rock, John Mensah -which should happen today, Monday- there are other smaller happenings in the Mercato. I apologize for the shortness of the piece, but transfer news is scant lately. I thought I’d throw in some tiny morcels of info to keep the stomach growling to a minimum for those of us who are genuine transfer news junkies, and for those of us who don’t read French.
John Mensah: According to L’Equipe, John Mensah is in Lyon today taking his physical exam. So barring a negative physical evaluation, Mensah should be a Lyon player by this evening at the latest. The contract is said to be worth 8.5mill Euro. Seems JMA put a little “icing on the cake” as he usually does for purchases from French clubs.
Patrick Muller: According to the newspaper Le Dauphine Libere, Muller’s negotiations with Grenoble Foot 38 have fallen through. Supposedly, there was a disagreement on the signing bonus. Muller has also recieved lesser interest from other clubs such as Swiss outfit Servette Geneve, PSG, and Eintracht Frankfurt.
Michael Charvet: Both Lyon and OGC Nice have confirmed that Charvet will spend next season at the southern club. Charvet will be giving a “trial” with the club. The amount has not been disclosed.
Striker Rumor: This one is really interesting! It seems Lyon have their eye on want-away A.S. Monaco striker Frederick Piquionne. There are two clubs interested: Lyon and OGC Nice, who are looking to replace their departed Ivorean striker Bakari Kone, who’s signed with Marseille. It seems that Lyon are looking at the young Monaco CF, because supposedly one or maybe both Milan Baros and/or Fred is leaving. This is news to me, but both L’Equipe and FranceFootball claim that there are several German clubs interested in both Baros and Fred. Fred recieving attention from both Fenerbahce and Werder Bremen. Recently, Fred made an emphatic statement that he planned on being a Lyon player this year and Baros’ agent made the same claim about his client. Also, according to Le Parisien, Lyon have offered Kim Kallstrom in a trade for Piquionne, but allegedly Monaco refused. No official word on any of this, so we’ll see what develops.
Aside from striker, Piquionne can play RWF, and this is also said to be an attribute that caught Lyon’s interest, even though Lyon currently have more right-wingers than Jean-Marie Le Pen’s Front National Party. Don’t know why Lyon isn’t more concerned about the left side.
Sidney Govou: And of course, no Lyon transfer update would be complete, without mentioning Sidney Govou. Despite Claude Puel’s declarations that Govou is an integral part of the team and will remain next season, according to the British paper Daily Star Sunday, Portsmouth FC may renew their courtship of Govou should their current negotiations to land Chelsea FC’s right-winger Shaun Wright-Phillips fail.
Category: Team News and Rumors
Tags: AS Monaco, Bakari Kone, Chelsea FC, Claude Puel, Daily Star Sunday, Eintracht Frankfurt, FraneFootball, Frederic Piquionne, Grenoble Foot 38, JMA, John Mensah, Kim Kallstrom, Lyon, Michael Charvet, Milan Baros, OGC Nice, Olympique de Marseille, Patrick Muller, Portsmouth FC, PSG, Servette Geneve, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Sidney Govou, Team News and RumorsSubscribe
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Comments
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It’s very hard to believe they can’t attract a better striker than Piquionne. There has to be someone abroad who’s available.
Posted from
United States
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Are Lyon that desperate to offload Kim? I mean really, he’s worth at least 10m..I don’t see why they would do that. Is Piquionne that good? Lyon already have so many strikers already, with Baros returning. Is there a need to buy another one?
Posted from
United States -
I think the rumors of Lyon offer Kallstrom to Monaco are false. Lyon could get Piquionne for something like 8m or even less. No way they’d exchange a far more valuable player.
Plus it’s been made pretty clear that he’s not at the level he needs to be for Lyon. It’s a fake track, most likely.
Apparently, now that Lyon signed Mensah, they will send Paillot away on loan again.
Posted from
United States -
Inara i’m with you on that one. The only reason everyone thinks Piquionne is coming to Lyon is because maurice Cohen said it. But if Lyon wants to win something big in Europe this year, they’ll need someone at least as good as Fred
Posted from
France -
no-one who supports Monaco believes the Kallstrom swap rumor at all.
Posted from
United States -
Maurice Cohen is one of the worst owners/presidents in France.
Posted from
United States -
And still nobody to substitute F Grosso… I’m worried…
Posted from
France -
Mensah can also play on the left, and Reveillere can play there in a pinch as well. And one of the youth kids, Lamine Gassama, has been looking really good on the right. Puel said that he doesn’t want to have too big of a squad, so I’m guessing that Lyon won’t bring in someone just to be Grosso’s backup.
As things stand, I think every position has the right amount of people, assuming no one else leaves (except for Kallstrom – that midfield is awfully crowded). I would, however, like some quality control, like replacing Baros with someone else.
Posted from
United States -
Defo agree Inara. Lets face it, Baros is muck. Despite us playing in a system that only requires one out and out centre foward, we don’t wanna get caught in a situation like last season with having Keita centre foward when Benzema and Fred get injured.
I mean Chelsea play a single striker and there options are Drogba, Anelka, Shevchenko and Kalou.
Baros for Milito or Saviola anyone???Posted from
Ireland -
John, can you point me to a confirmation of the Charvet thing? I believe you, I just can’t find anything on either club’s website or on google about anything but a trial …
Posted from
United States -
Why would Lyon send Paillot and Charvet on loan? It makes no sense, Mensah, Cris and Boom Boom arent enough cover. Unless they plan on using Seguin or Faure as the 4th central defender in the squad, which would be fine, but they are both 17.
Posted from
United States -
Martha: Here you go: http://forum.olweb.fr/showthread.php?t=132423&page=23
It’s a thread on the OL forum. The source is supposedly L’Equipe. These things are usually 100% but I’m having trouble finding the original also. I’ll try a little harder when I have more time.
Posted from
Costa Rica -
Corey: Puel spoke of Bodmer as the 4th and said that they are done with that position for the season, so we’ll see if he’s right.
Posted from
Costa Rica -
Actually, the thread that John posted is one in the forums that dedicated to straight news, i.e. people post articles there, no speculation allowed. It’s strictly regulated, so no sources from blogs either. They have to be from genuine news sites. Sometimes they don’t put the links down, but if you just google search for the title of the article, you’ll find it. These threads on the OL forum make it so easy when you want to find news, especially when it comes to transfers.
http://www.lequipe.fr/Football/breves2008/20080717_151424_charvet-ol-a-l-essai-a-nice_Dev.html
Posted from
United States -
Thanks Inara and John! Inara, the word “trial” comes up when I translate that, rather than loan — is that Google translate just not understanding football terminology?
Posted from
United States -
I am pretty sure its a trial, he was out of contract with Lyon and did not wish to renew considering he was destined for another year in the CFA.
Posted from
United States -
Martha: It’s accurate. The word is “Essai” in the piece which means “trial.” My mistake. Corey is correct.
Posted from
Costa Rica -
Thanks guys, sorry for picking away at this totally unimportant little issue — there’s not much going on @ Nice these days. (:
Posted from
United States -
No problem at all. There’s a big difference between a tryout and a loan. One means he’s a Nice player for sure, and the other is a maybe.
Posted from
United States
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