Nabil Fekir’s Father Denies Liverpool Contact

Over the past week, Nabil Fekir joining Liverpool this summer has begun to feel like something that could actually happen. If a deal is in the works, though, it’s not done just yet, and with transfer rumours even the seemingly surest thing can end in disappointment.

And if most of the reports out of France until now have given Reds fans cause for hope, today there’s at least one reason to temper those expectations, with the player’s father telling a Lyon fan site that there has been no contact between his son and Liverpool.

“I heard that there are negotiations, stuff like that, and I was surprised,” said Fekir’s father. “I can deny this—it’s not true. If it was Nabil would have told me right away as we are very close. His dream is to play in the Champions League with his boyhood club.”

If Fekir’s dream is to once again play in the Champions League with Lyon after spending the past year in the Europa League, then the club seem well placed for that, standing second in Ligue 1 with two game still to play—but only two points up on fourth-place Marseille.

However, it’s not as though playing in the Champions League with Lyon is a long-standing dream that would go unfulfilled if he left now. Lyon have been there before in recent years, in both 2015-16 and 2016-17, though Fekir missed the first due to an ACL injury.

It’s also difficult to imagine a potential move for the 24-year-old would depend on whether Lyon make the top three in France. Liverpool will be looking to get their business done quickly this summer, and any potential deals will be well under way already.

Either reports from RMC and Canal+ of a nearly done deal are accurate and Fekir’s transfer is likely to go through shortly after the end of the French league season in a little more than a week, or his father’s denial represents the truth and there’s nothing in the works.