Lyon have today announced new contracts for three of their most prominent young players – Nabil Fekir, Anthony Lopes and Corentin Tolisso – via their official Twitter account. However, one man was conspicuous by his absence.
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OFFICIAL: Lyon’s Nabil Fekir, Anthony Lopes & Corentin Tolisso have all signed new contracts until 2020. #OL pic.twitter.com/ZDeiOoQVk2
— FFW (@FrenchFtWeekly) July 8, 2015
How much do we dare read into this?
Alexandre Lacazette undoubtedly remains their prize asset and despite plenty of talk regarding a new deal (via Sky Sports), there’s still been no official word from either the club or the player himself.
After scoring an incredibly impressive 31 goals in all competitions last season, the 24-year-old has made himself one of the most desirable players in world football, with a host of teams believed to be interested in acquiring him.
Chief among them could well be Liverpool, who as well all know are in desperate need of the addition of a marquee striker, and have grown frustrated with Aston Villa’s demands over Christian Benteke (via Daily Mail).
The Daily Express – the same paper that claimed Liverpool were about to meet Benteke’s buyout clause last week – are now telling us that Lacazette could still hand in a transfer request in order to force through a move to England this summer, having grown frustrated with the lack of progress in his deal with Lyon.
Today’s news certainly implies that they’re closer to the truth than we might have expected. Lyon have taken the decision to announce these deals at the same time and surely would have waited for the Lacazette contract to go through if it was close to happening.
But before you get too excited, it’s worth remembering that the French international is contracted at the club until 2018 – as the Express themselves state – and Lyon could easily ‘do a Liverpool’ and block any potential exit from happening, as we have been doing with Raheem Sterling (via Liverpool Echo).
As with Sterling, Lacazette is likely to have a price. Is it one that we’ll be willing to pay? Only time will tell.