Moussa Niakhaté with FC Metz in 2017 (Photo by JEAN-CHRISTOPHE VERHAEGEN / AFP)
New OL recruit Moussa Niakhaté returns to Ligue 1, six years after leaving FC Metz. At the time, Jean-Michel Aulas predicted a future in Lyon for the Senegalese defender.
The price of his transfer is causing some teeth to grind, but Moussa Niakhate seems to have already passed a first test: that of the first interview and the first words to the supporters of theOL. The latter give the impression of having already validated the character of their new recruit, while waiting for her to confirm on the field the 31.9 million euros spent. A player with an appreciated personality, whether at Mainz or to NottinghamNiakhaté intends to do the same at theOL. Seeing him land between the Rhône and the Saône was also written for the former Valenciennes and Messin.
“I had one of my worst matches”
In his first words given to the Lyon club channel, the defender returned to an anecdote that today takes on its full meaning. Having only played one Ligue 1 season in his career, Moussa Niakhate has only crossed paths with OL twice in the elite, including a stinging defeat at the Stade Saint-Symphorien in April 2018. FC Metz had lost 5-0 to Anthony’s teammates Lopes and Niakhaté had realized “one of (his) worst matches”.
However, after this setback, Jean-Michel Classes came to predict a future for him at OL. “At the end of the match, when we went back to our locker room, Mr. Aulas shook our hands. And he said to me: ‘Sooner or later, you’ll be a Lyonnais.’ I had gone to talk with Houssem (Aouar), Mouctar (Diakhaby) and Tanguy (Ndombele). They said to me: ‘Did you hear what he told you?’ I hadn’t really calculated. But they said to me: ‘He doesn’t say that to everyone.’ When I see myself today, I tell myself that he understood everything.” History does not say whether this future predicted by the former president was bright or not…
2024-07-05 07:15:00
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