Bafétimbi Gomis: It’s over with Newcastle United confirms Lyon Chairman
Posted on August 12th, 2013 | 20 Comments |
Well there have certainly been some very strong hints so far, but now it has finally been confirmed by Olympique Lyonnais chairman, Jean-Michel Aulas that there are currently no parties currently in discussions to sign Olypique Lyonnais striker, Bafétimbi Gomis, confirming that Joe Kinnear and Newcastle United have finally got sick of all the complications and have fianlly walked away from the proposed deal.
Here’s what Aulas said to Olympique Lyonnais’ official website:
“Of course, the departure of Licha (striker / winger Lisandro López, recently sold by Lyon) poses a new problem. I look forward to trying to get everyone around the table to discuss,” said Aulas to Olympique Lyonais’ official website.
Getting to the most important bit, he then dropped the latest bombshell that there were currently no longer any offers on the table for Gomis any more, confirming, albeit in a roundabout fashion, that Newcastle United had actually pulled out of the deal:
“There are no proposals for Bafé. One can imagine, with the departure of Licha, we could recruit a striker or a player who plays on the right side. But, I repeat, we rest the question. I am ready to move into discussions with Bafe (over a contract extension).
“It is necessary to be humble, me firstly, Bafe needs to play. I think it would be a mistake to stay camped on our positions. We should work with his agent to find something that suits him in order to keep Olympique Lyonnais in good relations.”
There has obviously been alot of manoeuvring from various parties involved in this convoluted non-deal, and Aulas has pointed the finger of blame several times at Gomis’s agents demanding too much in commission. As you can see, Aulas also mentioned the departure of another Lyon forward. However, personally, having followed the story from the French side, I can’t help feeling that something might have changed with Aulas the night Lyon beat the Swiss Grasshoppers and his side qualified for the Champions League playoffs and he gave this interview.
Meanwhile, Newcastle United haven’t had anything to say on the matter at the time of writing.
Poll
After Lopez went, we had no leverage. Seems like, as I suspected, NUFC got used here-messed about and kept in reserve lest the Lopez deal not materialize. Well at least they’ve pulled out now. (Of course, something changed here too, when we signed that guy who likes Playstation.)