The transfer of Said Benrahma was already considered a failure – but now the Algerian is moving to Olympique Lyon after all
Said Benrahma was supposed to move to Lyon on deadline day. The striker was already in Lyon, had completed the medical check and was supposed to be presented as a new signing, but that didn’t happen – and the French side were rather disgruntled. On Thursday, Lyon complained publicly about West Ham United’s alleged misconduct. The Hammers had “failed to complete the necessary administrative procedures despite all the agreements made”.
The bottom line was that the Algerian international (21 caps) could not be registered in FIFA’s Transfer Matching System (TMS), so the loan deal appeared to have fallen through. Lyon had reserved the right to take legal action, including a later – quasi retrospective – validation of Benrahma’s transfer.
FIFA subsequently approves transfer
On the other hand, there was also the threat of asserting recourse claims against West Ham. The former was probably the decisive factor, as OL boss Laurent Prud’homme told reporters that FIFA had subsequently accepted “the validation of the transfer”, partly because Lyon were able to prove that they had submitted all the necessary documents to the world governing body in good time.
But what exactly the problem was was not specified. The fact is: for Lyon and Benrahma, it all came to nothing. On Friday, the deal was surprisingly finalized. The 28-year-old will initially be loaned out for six million euros until the end of the season, after which the French club will be able to sign him permanently for 14.4 million euros. West Ham will also retain a ten percent sell-on fee
Benrahma has played for the Hammers since 2020, scoring 24 goals in 155 games – his most significant goal was probably the interim 1:1 in last year’s Europa Conference League final against Serie A club AC Florence (2:1).
