Just a quick recap of what’s been going on this week (besides the games, of course).
Lyon’s newest player, Hamdan Al Kamali, arrived a few days ago from the United Arab Emirates. He’s the first ever player from the UAE to play in a top league. However, he’ll be starting in the reserves. Technically, he’s here on loan, but Lyon have the option to buy after six months. He’s a central defender and a talented young prospect, so his transfer is more of an investment than anything else. I’ll also go into this more detail next week, but this transfer is partly due to Lyon’s overall economic vision. Instead of going the PSG route and finding an oil baron to back them, Aulas wants to entice Middle Eastern entrepreneurs to invest in the club. But don’t worry, he’s not here on a free pass. He’ll be subjected to very intense training to improve his match fitness, and Garde will not play him unless he is at the level of his other teammates.
Hamdan Al Kamali arrives in Lyon.
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We all know that the weather has been just awful in France. Several matches have been postponed, and often times the pitch is difficult to play on or even frozen in some cases. The groundskeepers at the Stade de Gerland have been working around the clock, and despite the fact that Lyon have had three consecutive home games within a single week, the pitch has been in perfect condition. Jean-Michel Aulas was so impressed that he’s invited the groundskeepers as his guests to the Coupe de la Ligue final against Marseille (which will take place on April 14th).
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Deloitte published the latest edition of the Football Money League. I’ll be putting up a more detailed post next week about Lyon’s financial situation, but unsurprisingly, their revenue is the lowest it’s ever been for the past five years. To make matters worse, Marseille has jumped ahead of Lyon for the first time in seven years, becoming the 14th wealthiest club in Europe, having earned €150.4m in 2011. Lyon raked in only €132.8m, which puts them at 17th. To put things into perspective, Real Madrid, in 1st, earned almost €350m more than Lyon (though they probably spend most of it on Cristiano Ronaldo’s hair products).
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Aulas predicts that Montpellier will win the title this season, but he naturally couldn’t resist making an underhanded swipe at PSG, who he says are under pressure from their overly large ambitions.
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Disturbing stats of the week: Lyon have lost eight games this year, their worst record at this point in the season since 1997/1998. They have failed to keep a clean sheet in 31 out of 37 competitive matches so far, and they haven’t won at the Stade Chaban-Delmas in their last five L1 matches there. Worst of all, Lyon have won only 33% of their L1 games when Yoann Gourcuff starts, but the numbers jump to 59% when he doesn’t.
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Finally, some player news:
*Lisandro talks about his love of the Champions League and his support of Yoann Gourcuff. But my favorite part was when he said that he wants to stay at Lyon. I certainly hope so because if he’s not there when I eventually move to Lyon, then I
wouldn’t be able to have his babies.
*Ederson also wants to stay at Lyon, but he fears (and he is probably right) that Lyon don’t want him. His contract is ending this year, and so far, he hasn’t been offered a renewal yet. But he looked lively against APOEL, and perhaps if he impresses Garde suitably, Aulas might change his mind.
*John Mensah has reassured fans that he plans to play for Ghana as long as possible. Many have questioned whether he should still be called up to the Black Stars due to his frequent injuries (which he says is not his fault). My question is, shouldn’t he also be worrying about his place at Lyon?
*On the injury front, Yoann Gourcuff did not participate in training this morning due to muscle pains. No word yet on whether he’ll be on the team sheet for Sunday’s match against Bordeaux. Good news is that Dejan Lovren should be returning soon.