Rumour Mongering: France Goes Wild for Liverpool Fekir Return

Last summer, Liverpool agreed a fee and contract and had even done the media for Nabil Fekir’s reveal before, at the very last minute, the deal fell through. Ever since, there have been two groups unable to let the dream of Fekir in Red die.

One has been Liverpool fans who believed Fekir, who could conceivably play anywhere in the front five, was the final piece of the attacking puzzle. The other has been the rumour mongers who trot out his name whenever they run out of other things to talk about.

Following stories in the local Lyon press yesterday that speculated a pre-season friendly between Lyon and Liverpool could be a peacemaking offering from Liverpool that could lead to the deal’s revival, then, what we have today was probably inevitable.

And what we have today are multiple French journalists, none of whom have a great track record when it comes to transfer reporting, saying that a deal might just be back on. They even have a few supposed details from the supposedly renewed talks.

One is that a year after accepting €50M for Fekir and with his contract having just a year left on it, Lyon would likely accept a €30M fee for him this summer. The other is that the Reds have offered a five-year, €4M per year offer to the player.

The first number is higher than the €15M it has previously been reported Lyon might have to accept if they want to sell Fekir this summer rather than losing him on a free in 2020. The latter, though, is oddly low—amounting to just about £70k per week.

Whether that all might mean something—the total outlay perhaps reflecting the risk Liverpool would be willing to take on a player whose long-term fitness they aren’t entirely confident in—will surely be a point of speculation for many.

Realistically, though, there’s little here to suggest this is anything more than rumour mongers doing what rumour mongers do best—which is what The Independent think is going on—and latching on to a shred of a hint of a story.