Liverpool Reportedly Walked Away From The Nabil Fekir Deal

In the wake of Lyon’s president claiming any deal for Nabil Fekir is off, the head scratching among those of us following the drama picks up pace. Liverpool were expecting to announce Fekir on Friday and the reports at the time were carrying news of a successful medical in Paris along with the first interview and pictures of the player in a Liverpool shirt. But Friday came and went and there was no Fekir in red.

Then Saturday brought us the official statement from Lyon. Negotiations were ending with Liverpool and Fekir would remain a Lyon player. There will be nothing happening before the World Cup kicks off in Russia and the implication from Lyon is that there will be nothing happening, full stop.

But history suggests these wild negotiation tactics from Lyon’s Jean-Michal Aulas are merely the latest in a long line of such maneuvers over the years. Arsenal learned first hand last summer during their pursuit of Alexandre Lacazette. Aulas has a way of dragging these things out for as much of the window as possible.

On the other hand, we’ve seen conflicting reports about Fekir’s medical and Liverpool’s sought after second opinion on the Frenchman’s knee. The Liverpool physios could have been alerted to something during the procedure that gave them enough of a pause to shut the whole thing down. Or what they found may have triggered some new thinking and fresh terms. At this time, Liverpool haven’t made an official statement of any kind. We are relying on club connected journos to add a little narrative here and a little narrative there.

Here’s the latest from Rory Smith:

So far nobody, save for Aulas, is saying Liverpool definitely will not end up signing Nabil Fekir this summer. But everyone knows that whatever the outcome this saga is sure to run the length of the window.