It was an important moment for Olympique Lyonnais. Its passage before the DCNG. During its examination, the Rhone club was represented by its owner and president, the American John Textor, and its general director, Laurent Prud’homme. During this month of June, before its passage before the control body, OL validated the sales of the LDLC Arena, the multi-purpose hall owned by Eagle Football Group (formerly OL Groupe) after having initiated its construction, for around 160 million euros, and the sale of its American women’s football club, Seattle Reign FC for 53 million euros.
However, Olympique Lyonnais will still have to sell several players this summer. The departures of Rayan Cherki and Maxence Caqueret and even Irish defender Jake O’Brien are being considered. During the 2023-2024 financial year, contract transfers including those of Bradley Barcola to Paris Saint-Germain (40.5M), Castello Lukeba to RB Leipzig (30M), Romain Faivre to Bournemouth (14M) or Thiago Mendes to Al Rayyan (4M) already amounts to 96.9 million euros for the financial year.
A year ago, restrictions
A year ago, on July 4, 2023, the DNCG took measures to control payroll and transfer allowances, decisions confirmed on appeal on July 18. This situation had forced the Rhone club into summer recruitment, carried out at a discount and, in the end, missed or circumvented the rules with the loan of Ernest Nuamah acquired by Molenbeek, another club in the Textor galaxy, before lending him to Lyon . This had led OL to last place in the standings with the serious threat of relegation.
On December 5, the DNCG validated a new upwardly revised budget presented by the Rhone club and softened its position, thus allowing it to carry out more complete recruitment in January, notably through loans with purchase options. These acquisitions were positive: Lyon climbed to 6th place in Ligue 1 and qualified for the Europa League while playing in the final of the Coupe de France, lost 2-1 to PSG at the end of May.
