More France Transfer Rumors and Done Deals

July 13th, 2008 | by: Laurie |

Euros are over. Moving forward. (Again. It’s hard to forget something like that, isn’t it?) But let’s take a look at how the transfer season is going.

First, Samir Nasri is a Gunner at last! We all knew it was going to happen, right? And then it didn’t. And didn’t. And didn’t. Seriously, this thing dragged on longer than most Hollywood marriages. But Samir is now officially out of Marseille and into Arsenal. For the impossibly low sum of €14m. Doesn’t that just seem…um…well…really, really low for somebody with Nasri’s potential? Marseille’s money wasn’t helped by his season last year, or by France’s Euros. (Seriously, when he was subbed in for Ribery in the Italy game, and then subbed out fifteen minutes later? For Boumsong? Couldn’t you almost see the transfer price meter running backwards? Even though his only real flaw in that situation was not being able to play defense.)

But Samir is gone, gone, gone. And Marseille has brought in Hatem ben Arfa, and Inara still hasn’t recovered. And I don’t blame her. (She’s covered this one so well over on Lyon Offside, I won’t even bother to recap. I’ll just link. Except to say: Hatem, it’s time to grow up now. Your internatinoal future depends on it. You’ve got the talent. Now show us you can play well with others.)

Ben Arfa is just one of the French internationals leaving Lyon this season. We talked about Gregory Coupet last time, but Lyon had been unable to come to terms with Atletico Madrid. That’s been resolved, and Coupet is Madrid bound for “1.5mill Euros + performance incentives(500,000 if Atletico makes it to the CL. The contract is said to be for 2 years with an extension option.” I’m also stealing that from Inara. Because when she’s already done the work? Well, it’s summer and I’m feeling lazy.

But is this feeling like the end of an era or what? I feel for Coupet. It just seems like he never got the NT experience or credit he deserved. First the whole Barthez thing with WC 2006, then the disaster that was Euro 2008. (Yes, he was crap against Netherlands, but he had a good game against Italy — neither of those goals had anything to do with him, and he made some fantastic saves.) He’s been looking for something more interesting and more exotic than finishing his career in Lyon. Let’s hope he gets what he’s looking for.

One of the more interesting things about this switch is that the adorably baby-faced Hugo Lloris will now get his chance at Lyon after transferring in from Nice. This kid’s play is mature way beyond his years. With Raymond still in as Monsieur EdF, and given Raymond’s passion for all things Lyonnais, will the move to Lyon help Hugo push his way into the top three goalkeepers? I wouldn’t be at all surprised.

I may have posted this last time I talked about Hugo, but what the heck. Nothing’s going on in July anyway.

Also, I apparently jumped the gun a bit when I said Rio Mavuba was officially Lillois. He wasn’t quite, then. He is now.

Sebastien Squillaci is almost certainly leaving Lyon, to join Julien Escude at Sevilla. Escude is having pubalgie surgery (ouch), so Sevilla is going to need a central defender early season. Marino Faccioli, managing director of Lyon, is pretty much saying this is a done deal. Almost. He says there are “a few details to resolve on this matter”, and that the move hinged on a few “financial guarantees. We are waiting now for Sevilla to come back to work on completing the transfer of Squillaci.”

And what about Sidney Govou? Staying at Lyon? Leaving? A lot of us were theorizing that one of the reasons Sidney had a pretty good year last year was because he was on the market. And PSG has shown an interest. But right now Lyon is saying that our Sid is going nowhere. In a press release where Lyon stated they’re not interested in acquiring Nice’s Bakari Kone, they said, “[OL] would also like to remind people that coach Claude Puel has recently confirmed that he is counting on Sidney Govou in his plans.”

Which, of course, just means that they haven’t been offered enough money. Yet. I don’t think this is over, but I also wouldn’t be too surprised to see Govou still at Lyon when the dust settles. Stay tuned.

Rumblings at Chelsea about Florent Malouda leaving. Nothing concrete at the moment — just his name being tossed out when they talk about housecleaning to make way for the high-paid superstars they’re planning to bring in. I don’t think this would necessarily be a bad thing — Chelsea has not been good for our Flo. I’ll report back if I see anything else.

I wouldn’t have been surprised to see some kind of rumor on either Nicolas Anelka or Thierry Henry, given the seasons they had at their respective clubs, but at the moment there’s nothing. Henry had everybody in the US all atwitter when he played in a charity friendly while he was visiting New York a few weeks back, and the Henry-to-MLS rumors were out in force then. But they’ve died down, and there’s nothing since.

(I myself expect to see Titi in the US. When he needs a walker to get around.)

As far as Nico, looks like he’s planning to weather the storm at Chelsea. Hope it works out for him. (I’m sure we all know how much I hope that.)

Sigh. Anelka continues to break my heart.

That’s all I’m seeing at the moment, but this is far from over yet. Stay tuned.

France World Cup Blog RSS Feed

Doumé

Laurie,
Sorry I’m still on that WC 98 kick, but for those who haven’t seen them, here are some pics from Saturday’s commemorative game France 98 vs. World selection.
http://www.lequipe.fr/Portfolio/Football/PORTFOLIO_FRANCE_98.html
Still looking good for the most part!
http://france.worldcupblog.org Laurie

Doume, thanks for the pics! A friend emailed me to tell me it was on, and I even found streams that had carried, it, but I just missed it. I was heartbroken!
http://france.worldcupblog.org Laurie

Just looked at the pictures. Thuram actually played?!?!?!? Even for just a quarter hour… Man, that scares me. I don’t want to lose the guy.
Doumé

Laurie, I guess he didn’t really go full blast, but I think he would have hated not to be there, even 15 minutes.
ZZ looks awsome still, no? He scored the tying goal apparently. Beckham said that ZZ was for him the best player of all times.

Yeah, I missed the game too. Hopefully there are highlights available somewhere.
Michel-Olivier

-Nasri to arsenal, more frenches, less english.
-Lloris is the new Lama
-Gourcuff and Gouffran went to Bordeaux. i hope Marseille or Bordeaux win the league next season because i’m tired of lyon.
-Malouda(wrong club go to arsenal) and Anelka(brulez dans l’enfer) will enjoy the bench next season, they should bring their ipod so they don’t get bored.
-Henry-to-MLS maybe in 1-2 years.
Doumé

Thanks for the Lloris clip; they should have put the Dougie Howser music as background, I think

M-O, “Anelka(brulez dans l’enfer)”, wow that’s a little strong maybe. I think he tried hard against Romania, but as the game progressed, he tried to go it alone with some unrealistic shots. Had he made that tricky header, that would have changed probably many things; but Ribéry and Benzema also had their chances which they also didn’t put in. If were Anelka, I’d try to play in a smaller team and truly try to make a difference; the bench is killing his carreer.
sandrahn

Anelka keeps breaking my heart too, Laurie. Can’t see Felipao keeping him on. Felipao has announced he’s going to cut Chelsea’s huge squad.

I’ve been fuming all weekend long that we can’t ever get games like the France 98 commemoration game on US TV. I’ve been devouring everything I can find on the net about it. I’ve been trying to find out the list of the World XI team that Arsene managed (and photos). I’ve watched a couple of short highlight videos, and read some brief news reports, that’s all I’ve been able to find. I wish some site would post the entire match, and that I could access it. If anyone knows of such a site, please post the link.

Zizou looks fantastic, better than some players currently playing. And Arsene looked pretty damned good in the photos I’ve seen of him at the match.

I’m glad the Nasri transfer saga has finally ended but I’m a bit leery of recent signs of him becoming difficult, like his ridiculous little feud with Ribery. And what did I hear about Benzema acting like a brat at the Euros?
Michel-Olivier

@ Doumé
i don’t like anelke, but your right i went to far. just becuase he scored agaisnt faroe islands and lithuania he still suck to me.
Doumé

Michel-Olivier, I understand, that’s part of it, we’re all passionate about this sport and the ones who play it! and we do have our frustrations with them. I’d say, even the little goals against LIT and FER helped us make it into the Euro, thus doing better than England, Ukraine or Scotland…
My frustrations come from seeing an obvious talent, and then not to see it fully expressed at important times. I have the same feeling with Malouda, who really fights, but when he breaks through on the left, he stops and waits because no one’s in the box. So he takes ineffective shots. Well at least he was at the origin of the “Penalty Kick for the Ages”, which was also Zidane’s last goal, in 06.

Since I’m into celebrations and anniversaries, let me wish to all French people and friends of France on this blog a great Bastille Day, Bon Quatorze Juillet! And I’d like to think there is a reason why the Marseillaise is at the beginning of this tune:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=NzJ2NKp23WU
and we still have that when all else is lost (ooops I’m showing a little too much I’ve had a few)
“there’s nothing you can do that can’t be done” (think 2010:))
Doumé

Just to clarify:
“(ooops I’m showing a little too much I’ve had a few)”
Bastille Day drinks, that is.
http://lequipemoustache.blogspot.com Kyle

I got my placement for next year in France, I will be in Aurillac in Auvergne, the breadbasket of France. I know this isn’t foot related, but I thought I’d share since this blog and les bleus have made me chase any sort of excuse to live in France.

Hopefully I can find some interesting things next year to share with you guys on here.

Bonne fête de la Bastille à tous!
http://www.wickeddeflection.com jeff

That’s great, Kyle. Get ready to enjoy some Ligue 1.

When I’m in France, I find that the presentation of Ligue 1 looks so good, the quality of the images on television, and the enthusiasm and timing of the matches, right at the end of a big dinner, the build-up to the matches in l’Equipe – it’s all good fun.

Can’t say that I’ve ever met a Spurs supporter in France, but you can get all the Arsenal games. Cheers!
http://lequipemoustache.blogspot.com Kyle

Yeah, I agree with you on matches in France, something about tf1, canal+ and tps on a proper tv just can’t be matched by sopcast et al. I love getting ridiculous looks when I go into a bar and request they put on English football.

Even better will be all national games in hd thanks to my friends in Aurillac.

As much as I have a distaste for Arsenal, it will be nice to see Sami do his thing every week.
sandrahn

Kyle, you’re a spurs fan who likes France, national team and the country? I don’t meet too many of those. Good on ya! And I’m totally jealous of your stay in France!
sandrahn

Why no mention on this blog of the recent France 98 commemorative game at the Stade de France? If you want to upload the game, here it is:

http://www.megaupload.com/fr/?d=E1XNKRIJ
Doumé

Kyle,
that’s a neat region you’re going to! Great food, great everything. And nice nature too. Enjoy! I wonder what the local (closest) L1 team would be; maybe ST Etienne or Toulouse?
Jean-Michel

I noticed Henry was not present. I wonder what he was up to.
sandrahn

Neither were Petit nor Vieira. Most emotional moment: Thuram leaving the pitch after about 15 mins., unable to hide his emotions. He was sobbing on the bench and Jacquet was comforting him. He couldn’t play anymore than that without risking his heart.
Jean-Michel

That day could have easily been the highlight of Petit’s career and Henry…that world cup made both his and Trezeguet’s career. Viera rode the bench mostly but nevertheless was selected and it still looks bad as the “captain” of the current team to be a no show. I guess Giuly was called up because of all the absentees.