Olympique Lyon are “cultivating” their relationship with Nottingham Forest particularly intensively these days: after Orel Mangala, the French club have also signed Moussa Niakhaté – for 31.9 million euros.
At the beginning of the week, fans were amazed when OL announced the permanent signing of Orel Mangala. In addition to the €11.7 million loan fee, €23.4 million was added as a purchase price to finally prise the former Stuttgart player away from Nottingham Forest.
Lyon finally put an even higher sum on the table on Thursday to lure the Senegalese defender Moussa Niakhaté – also under contract with Nottingham Forest – to Ligue 1. As OL announced on its website, the club will pay a whopping 31.9 million euros to secure the services of the former Mainz player. Like Mangala, Niakhaté will receive a four-year contract until June 30, 2028.
A look at last season’s statistics makes it clear that Lyon will have to improve their defense: in the French top flight, only three teams – last-placed Clermont Foot (60), second-last Lorient (66) and third-last Metz (58) – conceded more goals than OL (55), who finished the season in sixth place.
Niakhaté is a good deal for Nottingham: In July 2022, Forest paid a total of ten million euros in a base fee, to which five million euros in bonuses could be added, to 1. FSV Manz 05 to sign the left-footer. This sum has now been tripled
No unknown territory
France, meanwhile, is not unfamiliar territory for Niakhaté, who trained in Lille and had various spells in Germany’s neighboring country until the summer of 2018. Niakhaté then played abroad for the first time at Mainz, for whom he made a total of 128 Bundesliga appearances in four years, scoring nine goals.
This was followed by a move to the Premier League, where he “only” made 35 appearances (one goal) in two years due to a serious thigh injury. Now, after Metz, Niakhaté’s second stop in Ligue 1 awaits as he becomes the sixth Senegalese international in the club’s history at OL.
