Lyon To Offer Nabil Fekir New Deal As Top Clubs Cool Interest

By Max Wise

Olympique Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas says club captain Nabil Fekir will be offered a new contract if he fails to find a suitable club in the summer transfer window.

Aulas has previously said that Lyon will not stand in Fekir’s way if a suitable offer comes around.

Fekir almost joined Liverpool in last season’s summer transfer window for £53m but the deal fell through at the eleventh hour after the Champions League winners raised concerns about his persistent knee injuries.

Fekir, who won the FIFA World Cup with France last summer, however enjoyed a largely injury-free season for Lyon in the 2018/2019 campaign, featuring in 39 games across all competitions, scoring 12 goals as well as laying on nine assists for his teammates.

Liverpool have now cooled their interest in Fekir leaving clubs like Spanish side Real Betis linked with a move for the Frenchman as a replacement for Giovani Lo Celso, who is rumored to be on his way to Tottenham Hotspurs.

Fekir has just a year left on his current contract and will be a free agent at the end of the season.

"Nabil has entered the final year of his contract so there may be a temptation for [interested] clubs to let the situation drag on," Aulas told RMC Sport.

"We're strong enough economically to wait.

"It would be very good news if he doesn't find a club of a suitable size, since we would then enter negotiations [about a new contract]."

"With Nabil and the players who preceded him, I have always respected their deepest wish," Aulas said.

"He says that he wants to leave but maybe he will stay, and at that point we will try to agree an extension.

"Sometimes unfair things happen in football and sometimes the conditions for a transfer are not met.

"Nabil deserves a club to match his level and if he does not find it we will be very happy to try to extend his contract]."