It’s never a done deal until all the paper work is signed, sealed and delivered, with the Ts crossed and the Is dotted. On Thursday, numerous media outlets all over the world reported that Liverpool and Lyon had reached an agreement for the transfer of forward Nabil Fekir.
We were told the deal was worth €55m (£48.4m) in base fee plus €5m (£4.4m) in add-ons, which meant the total transaction cost could eventually reach €60m (£52.8m). Fekir was set to undergo his Liverpool medical at the France national team training ground, and this was all supposed to be wrapped up by Friday.
We even saw an image of Fekir’s introductory interview on Liverpool’s web video channel leaked online.
Well, what a difference a couple of days make, as this transfer deal has indeed wrapped itself up, but with an outcome that’s the complete opposite of what we expected. Lyon announced the end of negotiations with Liverpool via an official statement.
The statement reads: “Lyon is announcing that the negotiations with Liverpool and Nabil Fekir for the transfer of the Lyon captain have not succeeded and Lyon have decided to put an end to the negotiations tonight at 8 p.m,” the statement read.
“Although Liverpool have been Nabil’s priority among a number of offers from ambitious clubs, Lyon are overjoyed that they can count on the presence of their captain, who will be a significant part of their 2018-19 season as they enter the Champions League after finishing in third.”
Olympique Lyonnais can confirm that the three-way negotiations with Liverpool FC and @NabilFekir for the French international have not succeeded, so the club has decided to end the negotiations tonight. pic.twitter.com/4D7qbMema2
— Olympique Lyonnais ???? (@OL_English) June 9, 2018
Well, then for Liverpool it’s, as Jay-Z once rapped “on to the next one.” Fekir would have been the third Anfield addition this summer. They just recently added Fabinho from Monaco, and last summer they struck a deal with RB Leipzig to bring Naby Keita over this year.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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