Frederic Piquionne is Lyonnais, No One Really Cares

By: Inara | July 31st, 2008

Right. So Frederic Piquionne is a Lyon player. He was nabbed for €4.5m on a four year contract from Monaco. Everyone is excited. Really.

*tumbleweeds*

Or maybe not. Umm…

A new player? What? When did this happen?

Normally there is a lot more excitement - or at least discussion - when Lyon sign a new player, but compared to their other transfers, Piquionne has received comparatively little attention. I haven’t received any google alerts in English confirming this transfer. Even his wikipedia page hasn’t been updated yet!

Read on for the deets of the transfer.

Name: Frédéric Piquionne
Age: 29
Position: Striker
Previous Clubs: Nimes, Rennes, St. Etienne, Monaco

Many of you will remember Piquionne from two seasons ago, when Lyon tried to sign him in the winter of the 2006/2007 season. He played for St. Etienne back then, so the transfer was doomed from the start (only 20 players in the history of the world have ever worn the jerseys of both Lyon and St. Etienne). Since Gerard Houllier had his heart set on Piquionne, Aulas did his best to bring him without being held to ransom.

But St. Etienne didn’t budge, and when Piquionne began applying pressure on his end, Les Verts responded by sending him to the reserves. That prompted his infamous “I’m a slave” comment, which caused quite a bit of furor in France.

Eventually, St. Etienne became so hostile for him that he was forced to leave. Since Lyon wasn’t a possible destination, he eventually ended up in Monaco on loan (they eventually bought him for €7m).

Up until his transfer to Monaco, Piquionne was well rated. He wasn’t very prolific as strikers go, but his technical ability and speed meant that he often opened up the defenses for other attackers. When Lyon registered their interest, Piquionne was also attracting the attention of Raymond Domenech, who called him up a few times to the NT.

Unfortunately, his move to Monaco turned out to be a stumbling block in his career. He failed to adjust to his new team and then later, he fell out with the coach. He’s managed 12 goals in 42 league appearances for Monaco, which is pretty good considering he didn’t start most matches. That’s way better than Milan Baros at any rate.

Puel has been a fan of Piquionne for a while, so I guess he has his reasons for bringing him to Lyon. During today’s press conference, Bernard Lacombe confirmed that Piquionne was at Lyon precisely because he was a different type of player than Karim Benzema and Fred.

However, I’m slightly concerned with his attitude. He’s a known troublemaker - he fell out with his manager at Rennes, then at St. Etienne, and again at Monaco. He’s coming to Lyon with the knowledge that he’ll be #3 striker, at least right now, but I have to wonder how long his patience will last. To me, his arrival indicates that Puel will continue with the one striker formation, which means that it would be impossible to accommodate a higher profile signing alongside of Benzema and Fred.

Piquionne has acknowledged the fact that most Lyon fans don’t care for his transfer, so he has vowed to prove his worth to them. I suspect part of the reason for the apathy was because his transfer was so anti-climatic. After hearing names like Samuel Eto’o, Luis Fabiano, and Diego Milito, we end up with a player that no OL fan wanted. Even I thought the Piquionne rumors were a smokescreen for a bigger signing. Never in a million years did I think Claude Puel was serious about this guy. But he’s here now, so all we can do is hope that he is useful to the team.

Obligatory youtube compilation with bad music: