Olympique Lyonnais has launched its summer transfer window by announcing the upcoming arrival of two new players. But, as always under the presidency of John Textor, difficult to see clearly in the strategies that animate the Rhone club. The supporters no longer hide their exasperation in the face of a management which, by dint of twirling between opaque deals and complex financial montages, blurs the legibility of the Lyon project. The transfer machine is relaunched … but not necessarily in transparency.
These two recruits come straight from Nottingham Forest. Again, Textor plays on the communicating vases of his multi-club empire, orchestrating a back and forth between OL and the English club whose governance he shares with Evangelos Marinakis. This time, Danilo, a 24 -year -old Brazilian midfielder, and Matt Turner, 30 -year -old American international goalkeeper, are in the Dépines Direction suitcases. A duo valued at more than 30 million euros, even though the club is still awaiting the validation of the DNCG, the financial gendarme of French football.
Textor, king of combinations and confusion
This ballet of transfers between friends clubs, still orchestrated through the powerful Giuliano Bertolucci agent, begins to tire the fans and question the observers. The lack of clarity around the amounts, the percentages of resale or the arrangements between parties feeds suspicion and underlines a cookie cutter management. “Pity, the DNCG, prohibit us this recruitment”, Ironize certain Lyon supporters, tired of seeing their club turn into a field of financial experimentation.
Lyon and Textor, always more ambiguity
This system of communicating vases, which has already cost OL last season with the overvalued purchases of Mangala and Niakhaté, is likely to weaken the club if the results do not follow. Especially since, on the English and Brazilian side, the other clubs of the Textor galaxy do not hesitate to take advantage of this model. But what can work elsewhere seems to condemn OL to stagnation, if not to regression, on the national and European scene.
Lyon: the urgency to clarify the project
While waiting for the DNCG decision, one thing is certain: OL is preparing for a new season of uncertainty, with recruits with a promising profile, but integrated into a climate of distrust and instability. If Textor really wishes to build a competitive club, he will first have to convince that he acts in the interest of Lyon, and not the sole benefit of his multi-club network.
