Wiltord Leaves Lyon
By: Inara | August 22nd, 2007
It was bound to happen. I’ve been reporting on Sylvain Wiltord unrest since last April, and to be frank, I thought he would be one of the first players to go.
He’s had the longest running transfer saga at Lyon this summer, almost signing for Rennes (his formative club) three times, and then somehow almost signing for PSG and a Qatari club in between. And then after every one of those “almost” incidents, Lyon would come out with a statement saying that Wiltord would be staying until the end of his contract.
Anyway, the reason that this transfer took so long was because of the muddle in negotiations. Wiltord has a year left on his contract, so he is not a free player. Rennes, on the other hand, didn’t want to pay any transfer fee because in their eyes, they were doing Lyon a favor by taking an unwanted, 34 year old player off their hands.
The other option was for Wiltord to buy out the last year of his contract, which he refused to do (I am long past the point of being embarrassed by Aulas’s greed).
Rennes, tired of all these shenanigans, claimed to have given up on signing Wiltord so that they could look at other options.
Wiltord continued to be kept off the team sheet during Lyon games because Aulas was afraid he would be injured, which would mean that no one would want him. Perrin, on the other hand, wasn’t too upset at the prospect of having Wiltord for another year because Lyon are currently kind of shorthanded in the attacking department.
But then we discovered that Rennes was just kidding about giving up on Wiltord. And now, after weeks of patience, they have signed one of the best finishers in L1 for a rock bottom fee of 1.5 million euros on a two year contract.* Rennes deserves a pat on the back for having the foresight to be patient.
Wiltord played a crucial role in Lyon’s past three seasons.
Note how I used the term “finisher.” Because that is what Wiltord is. He’s a guy that can come off the bench and change a game in a heartbeat - last season alone he must have won Lyon several games on his own (read his impressive stats here). A former Arsenal player, he is a truly elegant footballer who is a leader on and off the pitch, a big brother figure to the younger players, and even a favorite of Raymond Domenech. He’s also a clean player - in this three years with Lyon, he’s only picked up two yellow cards in all competitions.
I’m gutted to see him leave. I would have preferred that he end his career at Lyon.
Sadly, that wasn’t to be, and now Wiltord has become the seventh player departing the Stade de Gerland this summer. Hopefully he will be happier there (Rennes certainly is - they are referring to his transfer as The Return of the Prodigal Son).
I will miss you, Nino!
Just please don’t score against us.
And now a farewell youtube compilation:
Related posts:
Wiltord-Lyon, Le Divorce
Wiltord Threatens to Expose Teammates in Sex Scandal!
The Nino Chronicles, Part Deux
Sylvain Wiltord Arrested!
* Thanks so much to Jo for pointing out my gaffe. Before, I had incorrectly said that Wiltord left on a free (like Lamine Diatta did for St. Etienne despite having another year on his contract).
Category: Team News and Rumors
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Comments
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Are you sure Rennes had Wiltord for free ? I heard that they finally paid 1,5 million euros his last year of contract with Lyon…
I would be surprise Aulas let him go without taking what he wanted for first !Posted from
France
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This is what happens when you begin relying solely on google translators because of sheer laziness.
Ay ay ay. Thanks Jo, for correcting my huge mistake. I’m not sure why I thought that Wiltord was transferred for free, because I just double checked (I did the translating myself this time!), and confirmed what you wrote.
I mean, we all know that Aulas would overcharge even his own grandmother.
It’s all been corrected now.
Posted from
United States -
You know who really dropped the ball? Paris.
When he was at Arsenal, the last year of his contract he might have said four times that he wanted to come back home and that he either wanted to go back to Rennes or be close to his family. He’s from Paris so everybody understood that when he said on Canal+ (that still owned PSG) at the time “i want to come back and live near Paris where my family is”, he was saying “please Francis Graille call my agent” and then Vahid Halilodzic said something like he didn’t want stars coming there because it would alienate the team or something.
And afterwards, when they lost in the CL and Wiltord was tearing stuff up with Lyon, they were going “we could have gotten him!
Lyon lost one of their leaders for real and I still don’t understand how they’re gonna do without this guy. At least Rennes will get one of the best players out for at least two or three years.Posted from
United States -
When Tiago, Malouda, Diarra, and Abidal left, while I was sad that quality players were leaving, I was never worried about the spirit of the team. But Cacapa’s departure, and now Wiltord, has me really worried. I knew that logically, Nino would leave. But I was hoping that the Rennes deal wouldn’t work out because he is SUCH a great player. I love him, and now that Fred has revealed the petulant aspect of his character, I would rather keep Nino than keep Fred (since we all know that Fred will probably leave next summer anyway).
I don’t doubt Lyon’s quality of manpower, and I still have faith in their long term plan, but something went grossly wrong in player management and that might cause the club to fall apart. This past season everyone has been unhappy (Fred, Juni, Govou, Coupet, Diarra, Cacapa, Ben Arfa, etc). If I were Aulas, I would invest in a team councilor or something.
Posted from
United States -
A true master of the two-touch goal and a tireless runner, and unlike Inzaghi he can pass and not look comical in an aerial duel. Shame to see him leave the CL scene.
Posted from
Netherlands -
I suspect the departure of Houlier will have already gone some way to restoring team and individual morale (at least it would have done if the August injuries hadn’t come along)
Posted from
France -
According to his press confernce, Wiltord didn’t originally want to leave Lyon but was given no choice. Afterwards, when they wanted him too stay, it was too late.
He caused some unrest in the locker room, so I guess that’s why Aulas wanted him to leave, but I wish things had ended differently.
Posted from
United States -
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