WHO SHOULD LYON BUY?

By: John | June 17th, 2009

Build your own team for next season.

I thought we should do our version of goal.com’s article, maybe they’ve pulled-it. Anyway, although I thought that the author got a couple of things right in his article, he was, IMO, shooting too low. Now that JMA has renewed my confidence in OL’s possibly getting serious this mercato, lets see what we can come-up with, that while being slightly more ambitious than goal, is still realistic. Remember, I’m not talking about bringing in Vidic and Evra, let’s keep it realistic.

Lloris
Clerc-Cris-Boumsong-Morel
Govou/Remy-Toulalan-Makoun-Drenthe/Mancini
Perez/Erding-Benzema

Left Back: I’m really banging my head as to who else to include in the left back category, but for now, My choice is Jeremy Morel of Lorient. He’s put in some fine performances this year, and he woudln’t break the bank either. Only downside: lack of big game experience. Would be nice to have Drenthe or some more experienced player as a back-up or even starter in more important CL games.

LMF/LW:

Amantino Mancini: If Mancini is let go by Inter at 10 mill or under, his acquisition is a must. Hopefully his loss of form is just due to lack of playing time in Mourinho’s squad and he can regain his Roma form in no time. His “polyvalence”-aside from his abundant tactical skills- make him a real prize being able to slide into LMF/LWF, AMF as well as his more natural RMF/RWF role.

Royston Drenthe: Would fullfill our needs all along the left-hand side, even providing a back-up left back. If his reported price tag is really 13mill, then that’s a steal for the potential upside that this talent can bring to the club.

Strikers:

Loic Remy: If it’s true that management didn’t include a buy-back clause in Remy’s sale contract, then that has to be one of the most bone-headed moves in their history; what a lack of foresight. And another thing I don’t get is how are they still willing to sell Anthony Mounier to Nice if they are so insistant that they will not sell Remy back- unless it’s a ploy to drive-up his price of course. Anyway, like Mancini, Remy could fill alot of holes: he could fill-in on the left and right when Govou’s out, partner at starting striker next to Karim in a 4-4-2, or give us a #2/#3 back-up option at CF if another striker is brought in.

Melvut Erding: At 10mill, he’s a a less expensive option with plenty of potential. He could pair up with Benz or be a potent #2 option.

Lisandro Lopez: No need to say much. He’s a prolific world class striker, who will pair-up with Karim, wreak havoc on defenses, and ease the pain of Benz’s departure in the near future.

I didn’t include most of Real’s Dutch exodus, because most of their salaries are prohibitive. Also, don’t forget to leave your opinions regarding potential left backs.

Oh, Ronan, if ever there was a post for you, this is it buddy.

Some Related Lyon Posts:

Category: Just for Fun, Transfers

« SUMMER TRANSFERS: INS AND OUTS | Home | WEEKLY TRANSFER ROUND-UP »

sidney govou

http://www.goal.com/en/news/11...
Theo Walcott 14

^^^^No
Ronan

Does anyone else get the feeling this Lisandro Lopez deal will break down ?
Ronan

And I like Lopez Much more then Huntalaar.As for Robben I think Aulas is kidding himself there,Drenthe yes-but Robben would laugh at us if we came in,anyway if he came he would be either the highest earner or joint highest earner at the club,something which the presidant wont want.Besides what the point in wasting time fantasizing over Robben when there are much more realistic targets like Mancini.Im really baffled now as to who will and wont come,it seems as though in the last few days that we have more than strong links to four or five players. But I fear we have been there before : Aulas putting on this mega rich elite club bravado jacket and then come the end of the mercato we have not signed anyone of the sorts,its happened before,I hope this time decent signings are actually made.
Ronan

No way Burdisso a permanent LB,cover yes for Andre Santos(yes I would like to sign him)but Burdisso at LB for permanant fixture means trouble,but IF we got Maxwell he is the Bastos type,so is Andre Santos.Im not liking these Huntelaar rumours,because I dont see why we would sign Lopez and Huntelaar,so it would suggest to me there was a snag in the negotiations for Lopez.Im really concerned about this Lopez deal,it seems he and his agent want Lyon-its just a matter of how much Lyon want him. But I just say give Porto the cash and be done with it having a quality new striker here.Untill it goes through or if it goes through im going to be concerned,so I hope its done in the next few days,at this stage it would be a major let down to miss out on Lopez.
John

Maxwell, Burdisso and Mancini for Ederson, great. Could have even worked out a deal including Sauzo if Lisandro wasn't an option. Does anyone think Burdisso could play effectively at LB the entire season?
sidney govou

http://www.goal.com/en/news/90...
Ronan

Any body watch Brazil USA ? Check out Andre Santos,plays for Corinthians and did well LB an option for us.
Ronan

The rumours this morning that Inter possibly could give us Vieira,Burdisso and Mancini in exchange for Ederson im starting to hope are true. If we could just swap Vieira for Maxwell,so we got Mancini,Maxwell and Burdisso,that maybe asking a bit to much of Inter all for just Ederson but Id be happy to see that. Afterall Ederson didnt do all that much last year,couple of fancy shots,tricky cameos,a few goals but he wont be a big miss,besides the season where he would have excelled he would have left anyway.Mancini,Maxwell and Burdisso and Lisandro would pretty much wrap up the title and the one or two more would possibly see us in QF of cl.
Theo Walcott 14

^^^Because he brushed his teeth and they are now clean:D
Ronan

http://www.goal.com/en/news/12...

Hopefully thats true so they back off from Lisandro.
Ronan

Robben is to expensive he would cost about 20mill,and he wouldnt want to come here-Id be happy with mancini who is less than half Robbens price and much more realistic.Huntelaar could come but if we sign Lisandro,then having Karim,Lisandro and Klaas will mean one of them will have to miss out-and they wont take kindly to that.But if the Lisandro deal falls through(fingerscrossed it wont)Huntelaar is a good option.Drenthe should be signed. What would be perfect would be a season loan with an option to buy for him.But I have a feeling Aulas doesnt care about the real players and he is only speculating about them for the cameras.We dont want Vieira-he is not a good player,his class of 2003 has all but gone,if the management want another dm/cm Tiago swap with Grosso would be good,or Tim Borowski-apparently available.
Ronan

I dont know why people think we can sign Cissokho,if Milan wouldnt take him for medical reasons what makes you think he would pass a medical at Lyon.
OL-fan

A perfect lyon team:
Lloris
Clerc-Boum.-Sakho-Cissokho
Toulalan Makoun
Ederson
Remy Lopez Benzema
John

Well, at least Drenthe is on their radar.
http://www.goal.com/en/news/59...
sidney govou

http://www.goal.com/en/news/11...

new chance for us
Ronan

Yer but Coloccini is slow-and theres nothing you can do to stop that. You can be a very good CB and be slow,but its usually when every other aspect of your game is good,especially sniffing out danger and good positioning for slow CBs. Coloccini portrayed none of that at Newcastle anyway. Boumsong-Coloccini sounds like a comic book based on there reputation-Boumsong has got better and is learning the trade now-he doesnt need a negative influence like Coloccini.
Ush

On Collocini, he had also bad defenders around him like Taylor. He was also excellent at the start of the season. Look at his form with Depor, that's why he cost so much money. Not a chance he would be 6 mill, Newcastle need to get rid of players on big wages quickly and would have to accept less. Many people thought Boumsong would be a diaster, former Newcastle, became our BEST defender undoubtedly. Bramble has become solid with Wigan strangely also.
Ronan

Remy is apparently "untransferrable" or joining Lyon soon-depending on what website you read. What Aulas is trying to do is negotiate with porto for Lopez from 21mill to get it down to about 17/18mill I guess,but theres just no time to do that,obviously I understand that the club wants the cheapest possible price for him,but if we play cat and mouse with them for to long then we will miss out-someone else will get there skates on and sign him(Real Madrid,Milan)-which would be a great shame to miss out on a quality striker who waanted to join Lyon.
Ronan

Fuck sake Aulas !Just give Porto the money and get him !

http://www.goal.com/en/news/78...
Pride of Lyon

Anyway, all the formations that I can dream of will always be fiction. It is just like playing soccer manager.

To be honest, with the incredible defensive work Toulalan and Makoun can produce, I always wondered why we didn't change into a 3-5-2. I know it is an old playing style, and kind of romantic vision of football, but I can still remember using this line up 4 or 5 years back in the cup against Lyon.

Playing with Makoun and Toulalan compensates for the missing CB.

-------Toulalan---Makoun--------
--Govou-----Ederson----Mancini--
------Lisandro------Benzema-----

Although now according to heavy speculations, we should get Remy back instead of Mancini.
Ronan

Pride of Lyon your midfield and attack look really good,its unfortunate though because what about Makoun,you can hardly drop arguably are best player from last season,unless we sold him for 15mill and brought in some one good at DM but cheaper and will act as a backup well,maybe Mehmet Aurelio for back up for 4mill and spend the rest on Remy-no actually fuck that we cant sell Makoun he is great for us.
Ronan

Yer what he means is if he HAS to stay at Lyon he will without a problem because he is happy BUT if the oppertunity came round to join Inter hw would leave. His agent has also basciacally said the same but with less respect to Lyon and Aulas has all but said he will negotiate with Moratti
Theo Walcott 14

Ronan:
Ederson said:“Inter would be an extraordinary opportunity, but I would be nonetheless happy to stay at Lyon for another season
TO STAY AT LYON FOR ANOTHER SEASON
Ronan

Theo Walcott-You said that it looks like Ederson will stay this summer,but then you showed us a report about him saying how extraordinary Inter are,toppled by the fact that its obvious Aulas is negotiating with Moratti-to me it looks like Ederson will leave this summer. But to be honest ill be glad to see the back of Ederson if we get Vieira,Mancini and Burdisso in exchange. Mancini is quality,Burdisso can play anywhere at the back and played decently last season-Vieira,well they can keep him,but if he must come I supose there is something he can do for us-im just not sure what.Yer Benzema will stay this year although I have a funny feeling Benzema may stay for a long while as in another three of four seasons,I dont know why but I do. Who knows maybe he can be are raul or totti.
Ronan

Coloccini-No.Absolute crap,no pace,error prone and falls over much more than normal-Newcastle were relegated and he played a big part in that,plus hes expensive,he was bought by Newcastle for 10.5mill so i suggets they would want at least 6mill for him and hes worth about 1mill to me.
Theo Walcott 14

http://goal.com/en/news/11/tra...
It looks like benzema and ederson will stay this summer.
The next summer Pjanic will get his chance because benzema and ederson will leave.
Ush

Drenthe would be a great buy if we could get him at a decent price. Great potential and just needs playing time. Lisandro would be good aswell.

It's strange though, I'm still not so sure about Ederson. As in, he hasn't turned out to be Juni's replacement. Most of his play has been on the wing and while he is lively and looks good, has he developed (or will he ever) Junis vision for through balls and passes?

For the Lisandro Benz Ederson thing to work, it's either benz on the left wing or playing a 4-4-2 and sacrificing Makoun or Toulalan. I have to say, I'm not generally impressed with Puels playing style, it's pragmatic and cowardly.

I certainly think we should sell Kallstrom and Keita if we can get decent cash for them.

Defensively I still back Collocini even though he had a nightmare with newcastle, I think that club just makes defenders worse than they are. Heinze is also an option. Would love to see Haangeland from Fulham but I think he just signed a new contract.
Ronan

good news,it seems as though Real are stepping up there interest in Villa,apparetly David Villa told Valencia he wanted to move there,so if the Villa deal goes through its highly unlikely they would track Lisandro(although it is madrid-who love signing players for fun so we still have to be cautious)
Ronan

regards these locker room stinks-a lot of the great players can be that way-Ronaldo,Totti(a bit)BenArfa but it doesnt mean they wont do well for the team.
Ronan

Yer,I can see the point that Madrid recruit based on Ballon dor winners and anyone who will sell shirts,but Lopez is a good player and if Madrid want he will got to Madrid-lets be clear 99% of players will choose Madrid over Lyon,plus we Madrid have the financial muscle and tough negotiators and profile to get a deal done in about five minutes. I actually think swapping Ederson for Vieira,Mancini and Burdisso mighgt not be to bad,but Id rather have cash than Vieira,but Lyon have been linked to Tiago so maybe Tiago-Grosso swap and then that will stop Vieira coming-if JMA said-"This information should be announced by the clubs, not the players' agents. I neither confirm nor deny it."if he said that the basically what he means to say is Yes,we are negotiating with Inter. I was pissed when I first heard about this rumour but Burdisso,Vieira and Mancini will probably work out better for us. Then all we would need is a Razvan Rat/Ugur Boral,complete the Lisandro signing and possibly one more striker(Remy)and are mercato would be done.
Theo Walcott 14

http://goal.com/en/news/11/tra...
http://goal.com/en/news/10/ita...
---------Lloris------------
Clerc-Cris-Boumsong-Drenthe
-----Toulalan-Makoun-------
--------Ederson------------
Benzema-------------Remy---
---------Lisandro----------
Aditya

I am so sure Florentino Perez hasn't heard of Lopez. If any other big team was interested I would be worried.
Pride of Lyon

Quaresma is a portuguese version of Ben Arfa. He can kill a locker room to what I have heard about him... We are better off without him.

Mancini is a real option though. If we can get both Lopez and Mancini (and get rid of Keita), that would already be a huge squad improvement.

I read that Fiorentina were interested in Govou (who hasn't been linked to Govou though). I just hope that won't happen. Govou is worth more than the 6/10 Ronan gave him. His influence in the team is worth 9/10 if not more. He is a leader and we can't afford to lose him.

----------Toulalan------------
Govou-----Ederson-----Mancini
----Lisandro----Benzema-------

sounds good to me...
andy

what about queresma?
Jao

....to look at as prime examples to not even consider Real.
Jao

I agree he won't. He's got Saviola, Huntelaar, Soldado,
Pride of Lyon

Ronan... Any striker signing in Madrid is commiting professional suicide. There is no place for anyone in this team right now unless they are in the top 20 players in the world (all positions included). so apart from Ribery, I can't see many players on Madrid's list who would play next season.

Lopez will not go to Madrid.
Ronan

Damn it,Damn it. Lets be honest if there is any truth in that article,and Real enter proceedings for Lisandro,we can kiss Lopez goodbye and start selling Madrid shirts with Lisandro on the back. I mean as if Higuain,Raul,Huntelaar,Van Nistlerooy and Negredo up front wasnt enough-they want Lisandro-they can pretty much sign any other forward in football but no they want Lopez. Now well be left with Erding,who with all due respect to Erding,isnt on the same wavelength as Lisandro Lopez.The annoying part is I had a feeling it was to good to be true us signing Lisandro earlier.Damn it.I feel pissed.
Ronan

NNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!http://www.goal.com/fr/news/33...
Ronan

so I guess that leaves my team for next season looking like

Lloris
Clerc-Boumsong-Hangeland-Ugur Boral
Toulalan-Makoun
Ederson-Benzema-Mancini
Lopez
Ronan

I just want this Lopez deal to go through now,because the last thing I want see when I click into Goal.com is-Milan to Hijack Lyons Lisandro move-Report-or-Porto rejct Lyon Bid. Something along thos lines will be a real dissapointment.
Ronan

Although with the premiership clubs being so strong in CL maybe we should try and sign CBs who have proved themselves in the premiership. Such as Sebastian Bassong,Brede Hangeland or Gallas even.
Ronan

Although with Metzelders injuries Ill swap him for Carlos Henrique
Ronan

So all in all my signings would be Metzelder,Ugur Boral,Leonardo,Mancini,Remy and Lisandro Lopez
Ronan

Then finally up front well my ideal would be Vucinic or Yakubu. But Vucinic is to expensive/wouldnt join us,while Yakubu is fantastic finisher but sadly Everton would say no. Maybe Jo of Man city,hes available and if Piquionne goes we will only have Benzema(who isnt good at heading)and Lisandro who can head but at 5"8.5 isnt much of a threat I guess. But for me up front Remy,Benzema,Lisandro is good-if one of Benzema-Lisandro partnership is injured/dropped suspended whatever-we could just go with the one up front,or if we are really unlucky with suspensions/injuries to Lisandro and Karim the Loic Remy who I think is great potentially can play up front.(Remy is a must he is the new Henry I think and his general swagger and confidance alone will lift other OL players on the pitch.
Ronan

I also think are right wing is a semi issue-yes we have players for RW,but Keita hasnt found his feet,Govou is Govou and will just always be a 6 out of ten for performance,Delgado is not selected/inconsistant/injured/out of position. But if we got Remy,he could play there while Lisandro and Benzema are up top.Maybe also Hleb of Barca,or Elano(he would also cover AM)and both he and Man city are not in love with each other so a deal maybe bareable for the brazilian international.(obviously Mancini can also play RW)
andy

I want sneijder. Tho' he needs a big salery, he is a world class-player!
Ronan

The if Ederson leaves maybe we need an AM(not a matter of urgancy but still)seeing as Juninho and Ederson were are two main AMs last season we could probably do with one more,now I will mention a name none of you will know- Leonardo Rodriguez Pereira,he plays in the Greek league for Levadiakos,but hes 21 and talented-believe me. His passing is Xavi esc,can shoot and as I say his vision is skilled-I saw him play when I was In Kalamata on holiday-only saw him play two games but in each game he was impressive(he can also play wings)on top of that he is cheap and at 21 he can be really special at 24ish. Afterall that is what Porto do-and they are succesful-they sign(usually portuguese or south American)unheard of players from Portugal of South America and turn them into 15mill players-look at Hulk,Lisandro,Cissokho,Lucho Gonzalez,Meireles-all players who are regarded highly now but yaers ago Porto signed them for a pittance. I believe Leonardo could be turned good,im not saying I like that transfer policy of signing unheard of players because its boring but in some cases it is really effective.
Ronan

the for left wing I see Mancini-a rw and lw and AM and a player who can be really good in all three positions-what I love about Mancini is how unpredictable he is-one minute he gets a pass and messes it up,the next pass he does an outrageous trick and scores a wonder goal,fast,strong,skillful and gets into good positions-potentially Mancini could be in adverted commas are hero.Other than Mancini I like Cristian Rodriguez,but if we sign Lisandro signing the technically gifted Rodriguez maybe taking the piss out of porto seeing as Lisandro and Cissokho are odds on to leave.Also I like Drenthe,he is young and can adapt well for us.Obviously you have Michel Bastos-but havent heard any news regards transfers on him for a while.
Ronan

1.Mohammed Sarr,2.Christoph Metzelder,3.Naldo,4.Adil Rami,5.Carlos Marchena. Are CBs are two iffy at the moment-Cris has looked way past his best and quite erratic,Boumsong has been solid but your always waiting for his next error I find,Mensah-Dont have a fucking clue,has never played at CB-so he could be Vidic or he could be a chuckle brother at CB for all we know,so thats why I feel one more CB will do no harm.Then we move on to LB-lets be clear its been an issue since Belhadj left,and since then we have had three mercatos and its behond me why it hasnt been covered despite the problems. You see im not sure weather to say players to play first team or back up for Grosso so ill do both-first choice-1.Razvan Rat,2.Gabriel Heinze,3.Uğur Boral. Now second choice LBs 1.Morel,2. Torosidis,3.Insua(loan)/Fabio Da Silva(loan).
John

I don't think the CBs- except Boumsong- are good enough for the later rounds of the CL. I was watching the second leg of the Barca at Camp Nou and our whole line fell apart: Grosso gave balls away carelessly, Clerc should not have been playing, back so soon from injury against Henry, and Cris had some breakdown's also. I don't see Cris making a complete recovery, Bodmer is out of position, and Mensah needs to stay healthy so we can see what he's capable of; althought he is quite good at RB defensively IMO.
John

Yeah, scary to think Karim would be playing in support, and to think that may make him even more effective! We will might have two playmakers: Karim and Ederson playing behind them. From center midfield we will have Makoun and Kallstrom spraying the ball around and even Pjanic. Very exciting. Anyway, I don't even want to talk about it until it's done.
Ronan

Only thing is Im not sure but Lisandro maybe quite a selfish forward so we would need creativity behind him.Regards these signings,its all really how far you want Lyon to go-if we want to win the league back then possibly only two or three players need to come in,but if we want to get past last 16 of cl then we need 4/5 players.So im going to be positive and say the target is QF in CL. So I think GK is fine,Lloris is quality,Vercoutre is fine back up-so GK fine as we all new. RB is fine Clerc is good and Reveillere and Gassama are good enough to keep Clerc working hard.Now CB is a point of disagreement for me,many of you think are current CBs are good but for me we need one quality CB more(I wish we still had Squillaci)now I have five players for you to choose from at CB.
Ronan

Cheers John-Im never gonna dissapoint when it comes to transfer gossip,Yer Im starting to really get in the mood of the mercato,just gotta prey Lisandro Lopez signs. At first Lyons links to Lisandro I wasnt all that bothered by,but now that it seems things are spicing up regards that-Im starting to get excited. Lisandro has thirteen CL goals in 28 appearences-quite a record and one which only Benzema can match(Juni could possibly but hes left)signing Lopez may well be like having to Benzemas in the team-although Lisandro is totally different from Karim. Karim is technical,pacey and loves the sublime goals-but not always consist at scoring. Thats where Lisandro comes in hes more direct-all he wants are goals-no tricks or flicks tap ins headers,pens anything for him.He has an imposing physique-Mensah esc(without the injuries),and is an all round goalscorer-I would say similar to George weah(maybe Over the top).