Newsletter

Juninho on the transfer window: “We risk losing important players, but …” – Champions League

Asked by RMC Sport after the qualification against Juventus, the sporting director of OL gave the outline of the transfer window.

“The transfer window is not the priority at the moment”, promises Juninho. And for good reason, OL have just achieved “a great feat” by eliminating Juventus this Friday (2-1 defeat), in Turin, in the round of 16 of the Champions League. Now is the time for celebration, for joy, and soon, for recovery. Les Gones are on their way to Lisbon, where they will face Manchester City on August 15, in quarterfinals. “We are very happy for the players and for our supporters, who unfortunately cannot be with us, underlines the Lyon sports director, on RMC Sport. The team has shown a lot of maturity. Even if, of course, we suffered at times. We are the first French club to eliminate Juventus. It proves that our team has evolved a lot since the end of the season. Last week, we were not very lucky in the final of the Coupe de la Ligue … Today, we must admit that we had a little more to hold the result. To score first, it relieved us a little more. Unfortunately, there was this penalty (from Cristiano Ronaldo at the end of the first period). But overall, we are very happy. ” There is something.

Flat calm in the transfer market in Europe?

However, this does not mean that the former number 10 of OL evaded the question about the upcoming transfers. Especially since Rudi Garcia recently expressed his “needs” in this area … “The coach, always, he likes” mediatism “(smile), jokes” Juni “. It’s normal. Rudi wants to have the best possible team. ” Problem? “The market will be really lively this year,” he notes. Neither in Lyon, nor elsewhere. “There are a lot of difficulties everywhere,” he continues.

» READ ALSO – Tops / Flops Juventus-Lyon: Ronaldo made Lyon doubt, qualified by suffering
» READ ALSO – Lopes displays his ambitions: “We have the right to see higher”

In the end, the person concerned recognizes that OL “has needs in certain positions”, without giving more details on the targeted positions. Reinforcement in central defense, for example? This is the stated will of coach Garcia for many months. But Juninho prefers to sing the praises of 19-year-old Sinaly Diomande. A player who, despite his young age (19), is “ready” in his eyes and those of several “staff”. It remains to be seen if Rudi Garcia is one of them.

“When you have great players in your squad, it makes sense that other teams, bigger and with greater economic power, seek them out”

Juninho

“But there are other positions where we have several players. I rather think that there will be departures, ”slips Juninho. Will Houssem Aouar, Moussa Dembélé or Memphis Depay be affected by a possible transfer away from Groupama Stadium and Lyon this summer? “When you have great players in your workforce, it is logical that other teams, larger and who have greater economic power, seek them, analyzes the man of confidence of” JMA “, always on RMC. Losing important players is a risk. But if we were to lose important players, of course we will have the right to rebalance the workforce, I have already spoken with the president (Aulas). But today, with Bruno Guimaraes, Maxence Caqueret, Jean Lucas will soon have opportunities, Thiago Mendes, Jeff Reine-Adélaïde who made a good comeback and who will bring us a lot, we must not forget that we have a fairly large workforce. “

» READ ALSO – Lyon holds its exploit and dismisses Juventus
» READ ALSO – Tops / Flops City-Real: Sterling-De Bruyne in all good shots, the sinking of Varane

All before a small tackle that we can guess addressed to Rudi Garcia: “It’s not easy for the coach. Everyone wants to play. We had these problems during the season and we didn’t know how to balance. Sometimes I prefer a slightly smaller squad, but with a very important mindset, as we have shown today, even if there should be less talent. The state of mind comes first for me, the desire, the collective work. And after, you will draw the best. We risk losing important players, but we will also be attentive to the market, if that happens. ”

OL has already done some shopping and made several departures

In the meantime, Juninho is very satisfied with what he has seen on the pitch lately, and in particular against Juventus Turin this Friday evening, in the empty enclosure of the Allianz Stadium. The former Brazilian international criticized the group’s state of mind and above all denounced a lack of leadership in recent months. He has a whole different opinion today. And we imagine that this will influence his choices on the occasion of the next transfer window… “Now we have a team,” he insists. Before, we saw a team that had talent at times. We were able to control certain situations and be creative at times. But without the ball, we were never a team that poses difficulties for the opponent. Today, we see that we release something together. ” Remember that OL have already done some shopping and made several departures, on the occasion of the 100% French mini-transfer window. And even from last winter. In the direction of arrivals, the option of Karl Toko Ekambi was lifted and Tino Kadewere arrived from Le Havre (L2). Martin Terrier (Rennes), Amine Gouiri (Nice) and Oumar Solet (Salzburg) have left. Lucas Tousart (Hertha BSC) too. It is probably not over …

.

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Trending