Lyon streamroll their way through the summer transfer window

In a sharp departure from previous years, Lyon have been very efficient in the early part of this transfer window, with multiple signings for the men’s and women’s teams completed within just the first 3 weeks.

This level of productivity is unheard of – I’m used to Lyon dragging their heels all summer, with other clubs pulling their hair out, several Twitter tantrums from Aulas, and at least one Lyon player threatening to boycott training. Someone also usually ends up in therapy. That’s always been the Lyon way.

Everyone’s new favorite boy band: Thiago and the Dream Team

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Lyon’s Summer Schedule, Confirmed

With just two weeks left of summer vacation, the club is finalizing their summer schedule. The month before the start of the season will be especially crucial because there’s a new manager to break in. Sylvinho, who’s never been the top manager at a club before, will have a lot to learn in a very short time.

It doesn’t help that Lyon’s first league game is against Monaco, who, despite their relegation-level performance this past season, remain a big danger.

Podcast: Episode 5 – Brazilians, Hat Tricks, and Saucy Things

It’s been an epic two weeks at Chez Lyon. Between the changes to Lyon’s hierarchy to OL Féminin’s continued domination, there’s a lot to unpack. Lucky for you, Sam (@OZOL1950), Arianna (@AScavs), Nick (@NicholasMamo), and Rabeeta (@OffsideBeet) are here to break down the appointments of Juninho and Sylvinho and what they can bring to the club, as well as OL Féminin’s extra special masterclass against Barcelona to win their 4th consecutive Women’s Champions League title.

Have a listen below! You will also find timestamps for specific topics if you’d like to jump around. If there are any topics you’d like us to cover, just tweet at any one of us, or you can send an email to LyonOffside@gmail.com.

Topics Covered:

Lyon return to their Brazilian roots

Juninho’s back! He’s even brought a friend.

Nothing more needs to be said, does it?

The new triumvirate.

Ok fine, there might be a few minor details.

The revolving door comes to a halt?

Benzema, Lacazette, Martial, Tolisso, Ben Arfa, Umtiti, Fekir, Aouar, Lopes etc… Okay! We get it! The Olympique Lyonnais academy conveyor belt’s ability of producing quality footballers, gift wrapped and ready for a high level international career is well documented, and to quote Moussa Dembélé #IfYouDontKnowNowYouKnow! Around the academy is an incredibly successful recruitment cell led by OL’s secret weapon and chief recruiter Florian Maurice, whose ability to still find hidden gems at low prices in this modern age of football is both astounding and vital to the OL DNA and its ongoing success.

Despite only Anthony Lopes and Nabil Fekir left at the club (Jordan Ferri is currently out on loan to Ligue 1 club Nîmes Olympique), supporters and onlookers have become accustomed to the revolving door of exciting young talent passing from the academy through to the first team. Youngsters at the club are drawing more and more attention from supporters and the footballing world alike as the next big talents.

The strong generation of Ferri, Lacazette, N’jie, Grenier, Fekir, Umtiti, Tolisso, Benzia, Plea and Lopes, most of whom came into prominence during Rémi Garde’s tenure as coach between 2011-14 came to fruition during the 14-15 season under new coach Hubert Fournier. Fournier himself greatly benefited from the trust that Garde was somewhat forced to place on the academy players coming through at the time. Since these players came through, there had been a frustrating gap in quality between the reservists and the first team causing OL to rely more on canny and smart recruitment. Now it’s far different, the current crop of u19 players (not to mention a handful of 15/16 year olds), are already starting to knock on Genesio’s front door for a first team place.