Ligue 1 outfit Lyon find themselves in hot water after the French football powers handed down a provisional relegation and transfer ban to the club.
The authorities found more than £400 million worth of debt in the team’s accounts and ordered them to get their house in order or face the sanctions being applied.
In a press conference, owner John Textor said there is “no chance” the club will suffer those punishments, but it is clear that fund-raising measures, including player sales, will likely be needed in January to help balance the books and satisfy the regulators.
Said Benrahma and Moussa Niakhate among Lyon's most marketable players as Les Gones look for sales
Both Said Benrahma and Moussa Niakhate – who only signed for Lyon in the summer from West Ham United and Nottingham Forest respectively – are two of the most valuable assets at the club, both with market values of €15m, according to Transfermarkt.
Due to their recent and extensive Premier League experience, they are likely two of the most marketable players at the Groupama Stadium, but both arrived for not-insignificant fees in the summer, meaning the chance of either sale recording a substantial profit margin could be slim — especially with fellow clubs knowing Lyon’s desperate situation.
Much more at risk of a forced departure could be the likes of midfield duo Rayan Cherki and Maxence Caqueret.
The two locally-born men, 21 and 24 years old respectively, rose through Lyon’s academy and stand as two of the club’s most valuable assets in and around the €20m mark, according to Transfermarkt.
A sale of either of those two would go down as pure profit on the French club’s balance sheet, but would clearly come with intangible emotional costs for Lyon fans – with Liverpool linked with Cherki.
Textor and his fellow decision-makers will hope to net more for the promising duo, but they’ll need a tough negotiating stance as clubs will undoubtedly look to leverage Lyon’s very public struggles to get a cut-price deal. Whatever happens in January, there looks to be some tough months ahead. Lyon will hope they can embody their nickname – Les Gones (The Kids) – and replace any headline sales with budding academy talent.
A third of the way through the Ligue 1 season, Lyon have amassed 18 points, double that of Le Havre, currently occupying the first automatic relegation spot.
With that in mind, in FourFourTwo’s opinion, if Lyon can do enough in January to hold off the application of those sanctions, they may have done enough in the early part of the season to avoid the drop.
But there are a lot of moving parts to address before that’s a possibility, and Lyon fans will surely be eyeing the performance of their club’s backroom staff much more intently than anything going on on the pitch at the moment, as buying clubs circle in search of a bargain.
With Textor coming close to purchasing Everton earlier this year, it may seem like a bullet dodged for Toffees fans watching from afar.
