Lyon Say to Juventus: YOU IS A LIAR!!!!!!!!!!

By: Inara | January 25th, 2008

Wow, I didn’t think it was possible, but Juventus have hit another low. I mean, yeah they like to match fix and win imaginary penalties and otherwise engage in sleazy transfer dealings. I can forgive all that. But as for their latest bit of unclassiness over the transfer of the equally unclassy Jean-Alain Boumsong to my team?

Juve, I hardly knew ye.

I suppose I should start from the beginning. For those of you who follow this blog, you’ll know that this is the first time I’m writing about the always-looming transfer of Boumsong. I’ll be honest. I don’t want him. I don’t care if his suckitude is overexaggerated. I don’t care that Lyon’s current defenses are in shambles.

I. Just. Don’t. Want. Him.

We are getting Cris back soon (hopefully), so technically Boumsong would only be a backup. But at 28 years old, it’s not like he has a bright future. What Lyon should be doing is finding a young player who actually has potential. Real potential. Not the fake, misleading kind that leads to a career as a Chuckle Brother. Call me harsh, but that’s how I see it.

Anyway, Lyon and Juventus agreed to a permanent deal regarding Boumsong, with the purchase price set at €3m, which is €3m more than what Boumsong is worth, but I digress. With details already decided, Juventus asked Boumsong to play in their Coppa Italia match against Inter before leaving. Lyon didn’t want to agree because they need a defender RIGHT NOW, but Boumsong wanted a goodbye match (he also scored a goal that night). The next day, he arrived to take his medical (Lyon were determined to have Boumsong available for this Sunday, so they sent a private plane to pick him up after his game).

Aulas loves French internationals…no matter how mediocre.

However, Juventus put the deal on hold at the last second because they don’t have a replacement yet (aka they’re retarded and didn’t get the Olof Mellberg deal sorted out). Since Zdenek Grygera is suspended for the second leg of the Coppa match, Juve don’t want to part with Boumsong in case they need him to play next Wednesday. Keep in mind that Juve had already given both Boumsong and Lyon their word that the transfer would be finalized yesterday. They had even hammered out a detailed contract that should have been signed Thursday afternoon.

This is not how a professional club operates. Because of Juventus, Lyon halted looking for another CB in the past few days because they were under the assumption that they were going to get one by the end of the week. And now with a very important game three days away, one that Lyon have to win because Bordeaux is only three points adrift, Lyon might have to line up a central defense of Sebastien Squillaci and Sandy Paillot (whose entire L1 experience comprises of 45 minutes) in not just any game but their derby!!

Lyon were so furious that they posted an announcement on their website which basically denounced Juventus as liars that have no class. Marino Faccioli, the club’s administrator, said that in his 30 years working for Lyon, he never saw a club behave like this and hadn’t expected it of a club of Juve’s stature. Lyon have also said that if Juve don’t come to their senses by tomorrow, they will look for options elsewhere.

I’m sure many will say that I shouldn’t be so surprised (I should mention that aside from this event, I have no hard feelings towards Juve. Not being a Serie A follower and blissfully unaffected by Calciopoli, I don’t have the strong opinions that others do about Juventus. At least I didn’t… ). But it’s not funny when you have only one healthy central defender. However, I will admit that part of me would be glad to see this deal fall through. I’m of the opinion that Juve need to be taken to court for deception, fraud, and theft for passing Boumsong off as a defender.