Olympique Lyon is the club with the highest transfer spending of the winter, even though the move of West Ham’s Saïd Benrahma (28) fell through on deadline day. The Ligue 1 club secured their sixth new signing, former Stuttgart player Orel Mangala (25) from Nottingham Forest.
The Belgian comes on loan and costs 11.7 million euros for half the year alone. In the summer, the midfielder can be signed permanently for up to 21 million euros (including 3.5 million in bonuses) and would thus replace flop purchase Jeff Reine-Adélaïde (26) as the most expensive signing in OL history. Part of the deal also includes a ten percent share of the profit from a resale.
Benrahma was also initially supposed to come on a temporary basis for 5 million euros; an option for a further 12 million euros was agreed upon for the summer. Both clubs had agreed the deal, but ultimately West Ham canceled the transfer, as OL explained in a statement: “While Olympique Lyonnais had entered all administrative data on the FIFA platform (FIFA TMS) at the beginning of the evening, West Ham had despite repeated and continuous reminders from OL never initiated the technical procedure. In the absence of this backlash from the English club and due to this incomprehensible behavior which raises questions, the international transfer certificate could not be requested before the deadline,” it said. They even want to consider legal steps and try everything to complete the transfer at a later date.
The top transfers on deadline day in winter 2024
Orel Mangala | Nottingham to Olympique Lyon | Rental fee: €11.7 million
Even without Benrahma, the traditional club, which was threatened with relegation, paid around 50 million euros for its winter signings – in return, six players came with a market value of 64.5 million euros. On the departure side, OL has not had any painful transfers to report. The bottom line is that Lyon is now playing 16th in the table with a team that has a squad value of almost 215 million euros. against relegation. Olympique is part of the “Eagle Football Holding” of US entrepreneur John Textor, who wants to use his investments to bring the club back to Europe’s top as quickly as possible.
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