Only Five Days Left

By: Inara | January 25th, 2008

Silly season went by very quickly, and though it doesn’t seem like it, Lyon have been fairly busy during this transfer window. We sold Nadir Belhadj to Lens, loaned Fabio Santos to Sao Paulo for six months, received Marc Crosas on loan from Barca, and bought Cesar Delgado from Cruz Azul.

Lyon haven’t exactly dealt with the problems to their back line (ignoring it actually), but after last Sunday’s humiliating loss to Lens, Aulas finally got his act together and made a deal to sign Juventus reject Jean-Alain Boumsong. Except now the deal might be off. Oops.

Could Garay be the answer to our defensive nightmares?

Not to be swayed, Lyon then lodged a €15m bid for Racing Santander defender Ezequiel Garay, who at 20 years old would be a great addition to the squad. His buyout clause is €20m, and so far the only other club to bid for him is Tottenham, who bid €10m.

Lyon are also looking at Sébastien Pocognoli of AZ Alkmaar. A talented young left back, Lyon would like him to ~~replace~~ be an understudy to Fabio Grosso. However, his price is estimated to be over €8m.

Their next (and most likely target) is Ederson, whom Lyon have had their eye on for quite some time. A talented Brazilian playmaker, he’s seen as by many as Juninho’s heir apparent. So far Nice have managed to resist bids for their key midfielder, but Lyon are now prepared not just to meet his €12m release clause but offer more if need be. Aulas wants him to arrive this January but concedes that a summer arrival is far more likely. As for Ederson, he said that he wouldn’t mind coming to Lyon in the summer and in fact would rather stay in France for a while because he doesn’t feel ready to leave for another country just yet. One possibility is that Lyon will buy him right now but loan him back to Nice for the remainder of the season (like what they did for Belhadj last year).

In case Ederson doesn’t come, Lyon have their eyes on Tranquillo Barnetta, an attacking midfielder currently plying his trade with Bayer Leverkusen. He’s not cuptied, which is an added attraction. A Swiss international, his fee is estimated to be around €10m.

Say hello to Ederson. Even Juninho loves this guy.

Marc Crosas is so enamored with Lyon that he’s already gone back on his earlier statements that he wants to return to Barcelona in June. Now he says that if Lyon want to keep him, he wouldn’t mind staying.

As for those leaving the Gerland this winter…Barcelona have finally jumped on the Karim Benzema bandwagon. They resisted admirably, and while Real Madrid, Chelsea, Milan, and Manchester United were pushing and shoving each other in line, Barca took a step back and said, “Hey, we have the best strike force in the world!” But they’ve now changed their minds, and even tried to put in an option for first refusal on Crosas’s loan deal. Nice try. Karim isn’t going anywhere, ya hear?!?!

And since Barca were in the area ogling Benzema, they’ve also decided that they might be interested in Kim Kallstrom. I don’t know if Barca want to touch this one because Aulas will put them through hell. Lyon refused a €14m offer from Valencia last summer and will only let Kallstrom go for greater value (especially since he’s been playing oh so well this year. Though it’s possible that Crosas could be used to bring down the price if Barca truly are interested (depending on who leaves the Blaugrana this summer).

Lyon and Portsmouth have agreed to a six month loan deal for Milan Baros, who is worried that his lack of playing time will jeopardize his chances of making the Czech Republic squad for Euro 2008. Portsmouth will have the option to buy Baros at the end of the loan for €7m. Even better is that Portsmouth actually want him.

Baros got totally shafted by Lyon management.

Baros didn’t want to leave, but with Fred having decided to stay (since Tottenham refused to meet his outrageous salary demands), he doesn’t want to be the #3 choice in a team that plays with only one established striker (also, Lyon said that one of their strikers would have to leave this January). I personally think this makes the club look really bad. On one hand, you have Baros who’s dealt with a tough situation with dignity and good spirit, who has yet to complain even once, works hard every time, and was told that he could stay. Then you have Fred, who shows up late to practice, takes vacations whenever he wants, demands a lot of money and attention, bitches in the press every other day, and periodically engages in violent fits of temper on the pitch. And who gets rewarded? Fred of course.

Anyway, feel free to post more news and rumors.