Wiltord-Lyon, Le Divorce

By: Inara | May 13th, 2007

Nino I’ve been waiting awhile to talk about this because I still don’t know what exactly is going on between Sylvain Wiltord and Lyon.

Everything was fine until a few weeks ago, when Wiltord was supposedly considering a summer move to PSG. It had a lot of credence to it because PSG has always been the “club of his heart,” and he also really likes Paul Le Guen. Wiltord is 33, so he might have been thinking about winding down his career close to home (he was born in Paris).

The following week, Gerard Houllier excluded Wiltord from the list of players traveling to Paris for their game against PSG. At the time, I thought it was strange because there didn’t seem to be any reason for it. But whatever, it’s not like Houllier is always logical. Howver, a week later, the club announced that Wiltord had the stomach flu and wouldn’t be playing against Lens.

If you keep up with Lyon, you’ll know that “stomach flu” seems to be a common occurrence. Where do these guys eat?

At this point, the media were in a frenzy as they suddenly linked Wiltord with a move to Qatar, something his agent didn’t exactly deny. The following day, sources in the club leaked to the press that Wiltord was in fact not sick with the stomach flu and that he hadn’t been at practice for over a week.

More disturbing: that he emptied out his locker in the training center and that one of his teammates had left him a note saying, “Thank you for all the things you didn’t do.”

Say WHAT?

How can anyone possibly say that about Nino Wiltord, the man who has saved the collective asses of his teammates on more than one occasion?

But the intrigues got even more complicated. The night of the Lens match, when asked if Wiltord’s stomach flu excuse was a lie, Aulas said that he wasn’t a doctor, so how would he know? He then went on to say that he would be summoning Wiltord to his office next Monday under a “disciplinary framework” that might result in a dismissal. He also said that Wiltord’s future at the club depended on Houllier.

nino2

Has Nino won his last title with Lyon?

Huh.

Interestingly, Sylvain Wiltord was playing beach soccer with Ludovic Giuly in Lyon on Saturday .

Yeah, because that’s what people do when they’re about to leave for Qatar. But anyway…

So yesterday, Wiltord finally spoke out and made it quite clear that he didn’t appreciate Aulas’s comments. Some excerpts (translated by me):

About Aulas’s disciplinary comments: It’s a lack of respect. Last Wednesday, I was treated as a bad little boy, a devil or a crazy person. I don’t know why one would reproach me. I have a private life, I like to have fun, but I also do my work.

About his empty locker: I did not empty my locker. In fact, it was too full!

About going to Qatar: I won’t play in a country with no footballers! I’m 100% Lyonnais for another year, with an option for another season. I’ll see what happens. There are still many beautiful things to accomplish in Lyon, or a beautiful challenge elsewhere.

There are tons of other rumors too, such as Wiltord’s womanizing tendencies causing a fight with one of his teammates (it’s all gossip and nothing from even a semi-official source, so take this with several grains of salt).

But I think Lyon would be stupid to let Wiltord leave like this. Unless what he did was really hideous and awful, Wiltord does not deserve to be laid off. It’s only happened once before in the history of football (former Lyon player Vikash Dhorasoo was fired by PSG).

Nino being fired is just ridiculous.

This article says it more eloquently than I can, but Wiltord is the heart of Lyon’s team, even more so than Juninho. When he was out injured, his presence was missed just as much in the locker rooms as it was on the pitch. He’s one of the few guys out there for who it’s all about teamwork, not personal glory.

Wiltord’s a French international with many caps and goals for his country, and he’s led a very long and successful career. Yet he doesn’t complain when he mostly comes on as a sub, and even off the bench, he’s a decisive player, having scored seven goals this year, most of which directly resulted into a victory. Even when Domenech gave his starting spot to Franck Ribery for the World Cup, Wiltord never opened his mouth. He was graceful about it and continues to accept whatever decisions his coaches make.

He’s a rare sort of player. Calm under pressure, someone who is a real leader on the pitch, not egotistical, and well loved by fans and his teammates. His departure would be a really big loss.

Here is a video of Lyon’s match against PSG in the CdL. Lyon was trailing 0-1 with only two minutes left to go, when Nino decides to score two goals all by himself to win Lyon the match. What a GREAT player.

Lyon-PSG 8ème finale Coupe de la Ligue