Everton and Fulham target, Ernest Nuamah, reportedly went AWOL in the crucial final hours on transfer deadline day last week and effectively scuppering a deal that would have seen him make a last-minute switch to Craven Cottage.
Lyon were trying to arrange a deal to sell the young Ghanian before the summer transfer window closed and, at one stage, Everton appeared to be his most likely destination as would be Blues owner, John Textor, was said to be trying to persuade him to move to Goodison Park.
The suggestion at the time was that Nuamah, who had only signed for Les Gones on a permanent basis from one of Textor’s other clubs, RWD Molenbeek, in early July preferred a move to London over Merseyside, but a report in L’Equipe (via Lyon Foot) indicates that the winger was looking forward to playing in the Europa League and has no desire to leave Parc Olympique Lyonnais at all.
Reports as Friday’s 11pm deadline approached had it that Nuamah was set for Fulham with a medical planned in France to rush the move through but those close to the situation told L’Equipe that he was in tears at times and then “vanished into thin air without giving any news to anyone, not even to his agent, and he never returned to the club to sign his contract.”
Textor has apparently smoothed things over and apologised to the 20-year-old, assuring him that his place is with Lyon.