Are Lyon Bad Parents?

By: Inara | April 18th, 2008

It’s a difficult question for any club wanting to be more successful. Do they trust in their academy graduates, or do they spend money on bringing in young players of slightly more established quality?

Lyon, eager to join the elite group of European superclubs, have in recent years veered towards the latter. And who can blame them? While it’s romantic to imagine a club full of homegrown talent, it won’t lead to the success and dominance that they crave. It’s easier and less risky to simply buy the best players out there, as opposed to taking the time to nurture homegrown French talent. Football is global now, and as Lyon continue to grow, their squad will reflect that.

Having failed to make the grade at Lyon, Plessis is shining at Liverpool.

It’s why the recent craze over Clement Grenier has really piqued my interest. On one hand, I want Lyon to hold on to such a highly touted prospect, but on the other hand, I have to ask myself honestly, would staying at Lyon be a good move for him? After all, if a club produces a top prospect, it’s their responsibility to play him. What else is the point in having an elite academy? It’s unreasonable - and unfair - to expect them to sit around in the reserves until they are needed.

I don’t want to make it seem like Lyon don’t care about their academy. They do care. At least enough to invest in constantly improving facilities and better coaches. Just last summer, Lyon replaced long time academy overseer Alain Olio with George Prost, the guy who unearthed Theo Walcott, Gareth Bale, and Mathieu Flamini. The club continues to scout all over the world for talent to add to their youth ranks, the most recent additions being Stephen Ettien and Matias Chiacchio. And Lyon is very proud of the fact that there are several youth internationals, representing countries such as France, Argentina, Italy, and Portugal, scattered throughout all levels.

But will Lyon give these players a chance? Because despite all appearances to the contrary, Lyon aren’t particularly good at utilizing their academy graduates and have a poor track record at promoting from within. While the current senior squad boasts three such players - Sidney Govou, Francois Clerc, and Karim Benzema (Hatem Ben Arfa started out at Clairefontaine) - there are many more young OL graduates who aren’t given any opportunities to prove themselves. And here I should also point out that the only reason Clerc and Benzema got their chances was because of injuries to other players.

It would be easy to say that Lyon’s youth players aren’t that good, and certainly there are better academies in France (well, not too many - Rennes, Clairefontaine, and perhaps a few others), but that’s simply not true. Of course very few are gems like Benzema, but are some of them good enough to be squad players at Lyon? Yes.

In recent years, Lyon have forced players like Frederic Kanoute, Jeremy Clement, and Loic Remy to seek playing time elsewhere. Look at Kanoute now, and Clement has been putting in strong performances for PSG. As for Remy - he’s simply blossomed at Lens and was scoring regularly until he picked up his injury. In fact, he was so impressive that he was called up by Raymond Domenech, whereas at Lyon he was ignored for months at a time.

Last week, Damien Plessis, another such OL academy reject who is now at Liverpool, complained about Lyon’s inability to trust their young players. A talented prospect who had been wilting for two years in Lyon’s reserves, he made a deadline day move last August to Liverpool, a team that has an even more crowded midfield than Lyon. But in just eight months, he impressed Rafa Benitez so much that he made his debut appearance against Arsenal with what was a very strong performance.

Lyon’s abysmal reading of the situation regarding Plessis is so awful it’s almost funny, especially given how Lyon are seriously planning to spend a lot of money to keep Barcelona’s Marc Crosas, a player no better than Plessis, who would have been free for us.

Plessis had this to say about Lyon:

It’s incomprehensible. They are the champions, but they do not play their youth. A player like Anthony Mounier is good and has quality, but it’s a pity that he isn’t allowed to play. Even some of the players on the reserve team deserve to have a chance. But in France, they prefer not to take risks and don’t give them enough chances.

He makes a good point about Mounier, who had a great pre-season with Lyon and whom I’ve been wanting to see play all year. But he inexplicably disappeared this year, and even in games that Lyon win by big margins, Alain Perrin prefers to play his veterans as opposed to giving Mounier some minutes. So I’ll be entirely unsurprised if Mounier asks to leave come June. After all, that’s what Loic Remy and Sandy Paillot did (though they are out on loan). Another prospect, Romain Beynie, seems to be permanently called up the senior team but permanently ignored on the bench. He will probably also leave this summer.

Lyon’s Class of 1987 hasn’t been heard from since graduation.

In this next month, Lyon will be examining the 1988 generation of players and seeing if there is anyone worthy enough for a professional contract. The three big names are Francesco Migliore, Aurelien Badin, and Lossamy Karaboue, all of whom have been putting in strong and steady displays with the reserves and who certainly deserve at least a chance to prove they might have a place at Lyon. But all three know that past history isn’t on their side, and they’re aware that they might not get their chances. While their ultimate goal is to win a place at Lyon, they would rather move to a different club than be forced to endure countless more seasons in the reserves.

For many, I suppose Lyon’s failing battle to maintain the balance between their academy and their desire for high profile signings has come out of left field, but the warning signs were apparent even last September. And the situation has deteriorated since then. The success of Plessis at Liverpool will no doubt encourage other OL graduates to follow a similar path, and we may start seeing a situation similar to the one at Barca, who regularly lose some of their top prospects to rival clubs simply because they can’t provide space for the players they carefully trained.

So going back to Grenier, even though Lyon are planning to offer him a three year contract, maybe it’s best for him to leave. After all, how can Grenier believe that Lyon see him as a player for the future when the club is chasing after Metz’s Miralem Pjanic? Does it really make sense to pay Grenier - and with the number of big clubs chasing him, Lyon would have to pay him a lot - to play in Lyon’s reserves?