RMC Sport report that the suspense is over and that Houssem Aouar & Memphis Depay will be staying at Lyon this summer.
Both men will be at training this evening at 18:00 local time and will be in the squad for the match against Marseille on Sunday. As a result, they will not be leaving Lyon this window, per communication from the Lyon board this Saturday afternoon.
The deadline, which was initial last night, as set out by Jean-Michel Aulas on Wednesday, was moved to Saturday lunchtime to allow for the players concerned to have a bit more time to sort things out.
On Friday night, a source close to Lyon told RMC Sport that Memphis Depay was still trying to force a move to join Ronald Koeman at Barcelona and that Houssem Aouar was in talks with Juventus.
These additional hours did not allow for agreements to occur – from the top of the Lyon hierarchy, the decision has been made to stop everything.
As a result, both players will be at the disposition of Rudi Garcia from now on.
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Jeff-Reine Adélaïde, injured and not in the squad for Sunday, could still move to Hertha Berlin for €27m before the end of the window.
L’Équipe have been briefed the exact same news by Lyon – they maintain that all of Arsenal, Juventus, PSG and Real Madrid had contact this week for Houssem Aouar. Although the initial ultimatum was fixed for Friday, it had been extended to Saturday lunchtime.
None of the clubs negotiating with Lyon for either Memphis Depay or Houssem Aouar were able to meet the club’s demands.
L’Équipe add:
“Even if the suspicion inevitably exists of a last-minute agreement, it seems that OL really intends to turn the page of this saga, at a time when the post-COVID transfer market does not really meet its expectations, and despite the fact that the transfer of Lucas Paqueta, who arrived from AC Milan for € 20m, looked like a move in anticipation of a sale.
In the absence of Depay and Aouar, who will be direct competitors of Paqueta for a place in the starting XI, the purchase of the Brazilian could only be compensated, in theory, by a departure of Jeff Reine-Adélaïde to Hertha Berlin.”