In his exclusive CaughtOffside Substack column, journalist and French football expert Jonathan Johnson dives into what is happening in Ligue 1 including Houssem Aouar’s impending free transfer away from Lyon, Lionel Messi’s PSG contract, Eric Bailly’s disappointing spell with Marseille, and much more…
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Houssem Aouar attracting interest from Premier League
He will be leaving Lyon at the end of the season unless there is a massive change of heart on the player’s side. He’s being looked at by a number of Premier League clubs outside of the traditional top six but I can say for certain that these clubs have baulked after learning the demands of the player’s camp. He’s going to be a free agent, so his representatives know they can obviously hold talks with a host of clubs due to his situation.
It sounds like a change of scenery is best for Lyon and the player. Lyon aren’t happy about losing him for free but this is the consequence of failing to cash in on him in the previous windows, but that isn’t really their fault. All of the clubs interested in Aouar, and not just those in the Premier League, Roma, for example, really like him too, but they all knew he wasn’t going to extend at Lyon so there was never really any motivation to make a transfer offer. Also, the higher demands on the player side meant it would be a huge gamble.
As for Lyon, their situation is definitely one to watch. It’s unlikely they’re going to qualify for the Champions League next season so they have a number of players, not just Aouar, who could leave.
Lionel Messi set for PSG crunch talks later this month…
The latest, as I understand it, is that there are contract extension meetings scheduled between PSG and Lionel Messi’s camp for later on in the month. At the moment, nothing has been decided either way including the player’s salary. But one thing that is certain is that this potential extension is as important to Ligue 1 as it is to PSG. There is a vested interest from the French league for a player of Messi’s calibre to continue. The crunch will be later this month and obviously, with the way things have gone for the Parisians this season, including being out of the French Cup already, as well as suffering a first-leg Champions League defeat against Bayern Munich on Tuesday night, it’s safe to say this campaign isn’t shaping up to be their best, so for Messi, this could go one…
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