Ex-Liverpool star Bruno Cheyrou is set to become Lyon's sporting director after working his way up through the Ligue 1 club's ranks.
Cheyrou, 44, is currently working as Lyon's head of recruitment but will receive a promotion after club icon Juninho Pernambucano quit as sporting director in 2021. The position has remained vacant since, but Cheyrou is now expected to step into the role.
Liverpool fans will remember Cheyrou for the 48 games he played under legendary boss Gerard Houllier between 2002 and 2004. The France international was once dubbed the 'next Zinedine Zidane' but never managed to fulfil his potential as a midfielder.
As reported by RMC Sport, Cheyrou has earned a promotion at Lyon. He joined the French club in June 2020 after Florian Maurice left to become Rennes' technical director. Houllier was Lyon's football advisor at the time before his passing in December 2020.
Cheyrou has faced criticism from fans for Lyon's underwhelming recent transfer windows, as they finished eighth in Ligue 1 last season. They are currently ninth in the table and are in danger of missing out on European football for a second consecutive season.
Despite Lyon's poor form, Cheyrou is poised for a promotion. It is believed Lyon are also interested in appointing their former striker Sonny Anderson for the role of football advisor, with their former midfielder Edmilson also in the running for the position.
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Cheyrou started his career as a professional footballer at Lille, where he made more than 100 appearances and won promotion to France's top-flight to capture Houllier's attention. Liverpool signed him in the summer of 2002 for around £4.5million.
"To me, Bruno has some of the attributes of Zinedine Zidane, he has his ability to pick a pass, and moves a little like him," said Houllier on signing Cheyrou.
"Zidane is 29 and at the very peak of his game, while Bruno is just a youngster, and is still very much learning, especially about English football. Look at [Robert] Pires and [Sylvain] Wiltord at Arsenal. They took time, because the Premiership [ Premier League ] is so different to France. It is so much quicker and more physical. But look at them now."
Cheyrou never did grasp the intensity of the Premier League like Pires and Wiltord. The midfielder failed to live up to expectations on Merseyside and was allowed to leave the club on loan in the summer of 2004, as French giants Marseille came calling.
Cheyrou then spent the 2005/06 term on loan at Bordeaux, another French side, before leaving Liverpool permanently in the summer of 2006. He later enjoyed spells with Rennes in France, Anorthosis in Cyprus and Nantes in France before hanging up his boots in 2012.
Cheyrou won three senior caps for France and was part of the Liverpool squad that won the Carabao Cup in 2003 - then known as the Worthington Cup - after Liverpool's 2-0 win against Manchester United in the final. He did not make the bench for the final.
