Although banned from recruitment by the DNCG, Olympique Lyonnais will still try to register Thiago Almada and Luiz Henrique (Botafogo) for the second part of the season…
It's no secret as Thiago Almada and Luiz Henrique announced it: the Botafogo stars plan to join OL to finish the season there. After winning the Brasileiro as well as the Copa Libertadores, the Argentinian World Champion and the former Bétis player do not intend to stay until the Club World Cup and are now aiming for Europe in Lyon… Except that we have to find a way to have them registered while the DNCG has banned OL from any recruitment this winter.
Almada first, Henrique secondly
The road map of the Lyon management is therefore to say that the main interested parties arrive on the basis of a free loan, with full payment of the salary by the parent company Eagle Holdings (and not Eagle Football)… Which does not costs nothing to OL and would therefore be authorized. Despite everything, it will take the stamp of the LFP to validate these movements and, to do so, if we are to believe L'Equipe, an “informal discussion” is planned with the DNCG in the coming days for Thiago Almada.
Concerning Luiz Henrique, the file is more complex and will be dealt with later in the month because although Almada has a dual passport, the Brazilian is 100% extra-community. Which means that OL must free up a place: either by selling one of the elements occupying the available places (Adryelson), or by managing to finalize the naturalization of Ainsley Maitland-Niles. As crazy as it may seem, if an Englishman cannot be considered intra-community since Brexit, a player with a nationality in the Caribbean (like those of Barbados, country of origin of one of his parents) will be. … thanks to the Cotonou agreements, signed with 79 countries outside Europe. OL are looking to play on this before negotiating a second time with the DNCG.
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