Lyon still at risk of losing Ghezzal for free

Lyndon Lloyd | Thursday, 27 October 2016

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With Rachid Ghezzal yet to sign a new contract with Lyon, there is renewed speculation that he could make a move to Everton in January.

The 24-year-old winger was close to joining the Blues in the summer after a deal worth around €11m was agreed with the French club and the player himself was offered lucrative terms.

Ghezzal turned down the chance of joining Everton due to hesitation over leaving France and his hometown club as well as concerns over the lack of European football on offer at Goodison Park. It had been thought at the time that he and his agent might have been using Steve Walsh's interest as a means of extracting better terms from Lyon but no new deal has been signed.

That puts Lyon at risk of losing him for nothing next summer unless a new contract can be hammered out before then or they sell him during the next transfer window.

“Everton made an exceptional offer financially, but it wasn't as good on a sport level," Ghezzal's older brother, Abdelkader, is quoted as saying. "Rachid has his head in the right place, he's aware, and we need to know what's best for him football wise.

“Rachid doesn't have any sporting guarantees [at Lyon], which is what we want. He was going to sign a new contract, but for what? To play when?”

Since his contract impasse, Ghezzal has played a diminished role in Lyon's team making just two starts, partly because of the form of Nabil Fékir, report Sport Witness.

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