What The Rent Boys Are Up To

By: Inara | March 16th, 2008

Currently, Lyon have FIVE players out on loan and one playing for them. So let’s check on their progress, shall we?

Milan Baros - 6 month loan to Portsmouth.

Baros is enjoying regular playing time at Portsmouth, and though he has yet to score, he’s already notched two assists (against Chelsea and Manchester United), won a penalty (against Aston Villa), and essentially created two other goals (against Birmingham). He’s started six out of the last nine games and was subbed in for another two.

Baros sweats his new team.

For comparison’s sake, Baros participated in only 12 games out of a possible 22 at Lyon (he started six of those games). However, he did manage three goals and two assists.

Word on the street is that Harry Redknapp has been sufficiently impressed by Baros to consider making the loan deal permanent. Keep in mind that Portsmouth has the option to buy Baros for €7m. We can only hope. At the moment, though there are only two “real” center forwards at Lyon, there actually isn’t any room for Baros, and given his inability to adapt to the team or the league, it might be best for all parties if he remains in England.

Though I won’t deny that I have a soft spot for Baros, and I really wished his move to Lyon had worked out. But it’s not his fault that Karim Benzema is developing into one of the best strikers in the world and that Fred is hella talented (though a nutcase at times).

Fabio Santos - 6 month loan to Sao Paulo

Unlike Baros, I’m not quite sure why Fabio Santos was loaned out. Officially, Fabio Santos had to return to Brazil to be with his pregnant wife, but unofficially, there are allegations that the club was unhappy when he faked being ill (this is all hearsay, fyi).

Anyway, Fabio Santos is enjoying regular playing time at Sao Paulo. Not being a regular follower of Brazilian football, all I can tell you is that he’s been lukewarm and hasn’t impressed at Sao Paulo the way he was starting to at Lyon. But maybe that’s changed since the latest update from Bruno Romani. Also, Fabio Santos scored a goal against Santos on February 10th.

Fabio & his (non Lyon) Friends.

Unfortunately for him, he was injured during a Copa Libertadores match against CD Audax Italiano de La Florida (just to let you know, this club is in Chile). He’s been out ever since with a pulled muscle. Sao Paulo was been hoping that he’d be ready to play Palmeiras today, but he had to be dropped from the squad at the last minute.

Are we going to get Fabio Santos back? Who knows. He was putting in some GREAT performances during Jeremy Toulalan’s injury and was making a case for starting at Lyon. So you can imagine how unexpected his loan to Sao Paulo was. I should also point out that Sao Paulo have been after Fabio Santos for quite a while, and apparently, Fabio Santos wanted to go there last summer, but Lyon blocked the move. Also, I have no idea if Fabio Santos’s loan is with or without an option to buy.

Loic Remy - 6 month loan to Lens

One of Lyon’s youth products, Remy is a talented young attacker who was unfortunately unable to nail down a permanent spot on the senior team due to high quality of Lyon’s offensive arsenal. Barred by Hatem Ben Arfa, Karim Benzema, Sidney Govou, Kader Keita, and Cesar Delgado while also facing competition from Anthony Mounier, Remy only played in six matches for Lyon in five months, and all were as a sub. So he was sent out on loan to Lens in order to gain more experience.

You’re coming back home, Loic, so don’t think otherwise.

Remy is having a great time imposing himself at Lens. He started the last six games and has scored three goals in the process (including one today). He also played a huge role in Lens’s Coupe de la Ligue semifinal against Le Mans - the same team that knocked out Lyon in the previous stage - and scored a crucial goal (Lens won 5-4). Remy will most likely play in the final against PSG. Good luck with that.

Will Remy stay or return? Remember, Lens have the option to buy at the end of the six months, though they’d have to shell out €10m for him, which would make him the highest transfer in Lens’s history. Assuming Lyon will want him back due to his good performances and his newly accumulated experience, I doubt Lyon will lower that €10m pricetag, so Lens may decide not to take the plunge. If they do, it depends on whether Remy will want to stay. Lens are currently in 16th place and only two points away from the relegation zone whereas Lyon will probably win the title and at the very least be in the Champions League next year (though to be fair, Remy will have to fight for his place on the Lyon squad, which is never easy). So Remy will have to chose what is more attractive to him.

Sandy Paillot - 6 month loan to Grenoble (Ligue 2)

Unlike all others on this list, Paillot really needed this loan. Another graduate of Lyon’s youth academy, he made only a handful of appearances for the senior team this year. Despite Lyon’s season long defensive crisis, Paillot was rarely used, as Perrin preferred Mathieu Bodmer - a midfielder by trade - to the inexperienced Paillot. To date, he played in one L1 match (his debut - against Lorient) and in one French Cup match (against Creteil). Both appearances were as subs. He also played in some games in the Peace Cup, Lyon’s pre-season tournament in Korea.

Our guy is the jumping man in blue.

Obviously Lyon have some faith in his abilities, or else they wouldn’t have promoted him in the first place and would have allowed him to leave. Instead, they loaned him to Ligue 2 outfit Grenoble, where after a short period of adjustment, he is now getting regular game time. He’s started the last four matches for Grenoble, and so far, he’s looked good (unless you count this picture, in which he looks like a juvenile delinquent). Right now, Grenoble is in fourth place, just one spot shy from securing promotion to L1 for next season.

His loan is without an option to buy, so Paillot will return to Lyon at the end of the season. This is a good thing because the rest of Lyon’s CBs, both healthy and injured, are 27 years old and older. If Paillot sufficiently impresses Perrin (or whoever the coach is for next season), he’ll be a most welcome addition to the bench.

Ederson - 6 month loan to Nice

Ederson is technically not our player since he only signed for Lyon last January and was immediately loaned back to Nice to finish the rest of the season with them (that was his condition). But since Aulas owns his contract papers…

Like the rest of his team, he suffered a drop in form for a few weeks. Nice didn’t win a single league game between mid-January to early February, notching five draws and two losses. But thanks to their weekend win at Metz (where Ederson scored a penalty), Nice look to be back on track. They are currently in fifth place and are battling with Marseille, Le Mans, and Nancy for a coveted European spot.

Ederson has also collected two yellow cards in the last two matches, and is one more yellow away from a suspension. So I guess he’s more like Juninho than we had originally thought (just as long as he’s not a card shark like Jeremy Toulalan).

If Ederson grew a scruffy beard, would he also look like Juninho?

At €15m, Ederson is Lyon’s third most expensive signing (he’s tied with Fred) ever. The price is well worth it when you factor in his talent and his experience. I also have to wonder, given that Lyon paid an extra €3m for Ederson than what his release clause stipulated (€12m), if Aulas negotiated a first refusal option for another Nice player who may or may not be called Hugo Lloris…

Marc Crosas - 6 month loan from Barcelona

Crosas is a Barcelona youth product who was unable to find playing time with his club, so in order to get the experience he needs to make a dent in that ridiculously talented Barca side, he came to…Lyon. I know, it makes no sense, right? Lyon are up to their nostrils in midfield talent, so I’m not sure just how much time Crosas was expecting. Still, he’s managed a respectable four appearances, three of them as a starter in right midfield (when Juninho was injured and Mathieu Bodmer had to play in defense).

I haven’t seen enough of Crosas to form a solid opinion, but I have to admit that he looks better than I had expected. Crosas is small and not a great tackler, but he has good vision, and despite being so young, he possesses a very nice range of passing that with more practice, could become sublime. He also has a good sense of tactical awareness and always keeps an eye out on the movement of the attackers.

As the season goes on, hopefully Crosas will get more time. But even if he doesn’t play much, his loan will still have allowed him to grow into a better player. Moving to a new country, adapting to a new league and a new team, and learning a new language will do wonders for his maturity, and Lyon is certainly a great environment to grow as a professional - definitely more than a club like Barca, where the players are subject to constant public attention (and criticism).

Exchanging one kind of blue and red stripes for another.

Are Lyon going to keep Crosas? I’m not sure. In a radio interview for Hit & Sport (listen to the podcast here and here), Crosas clearly said that he wanted to stay in France, that he hoped Lyon would keep him, and that Barcelona wouldn’t make things too difficult. In fact, Crosas has said he wants to stay at Lyon several times now and doesn’t want to return to Barca. Whether that’s because he genuinely loves the club or because he has a better chance of fitting in at Lyon than he would at Barca, I don’t know. But two problems. First, Crosas’s loan is without an option to buy (though these things can always be renegotiated). He also has a buyout clause of €50m. However, Barca may decide to let him stay if they choose to reinforce their midfield (they’re getting Christian Poulson and are heavily linked to Diego and Frank Lampard to name a few). Lyon themselves won’t have room for him if Kim Kallstrom ends up staying.