The native of Girona never had the confidence of his coach during a loan which ended earlier than expected.
On paper, Pau Lopez’s loan to Girona FC, his hometown club, had all the makings of a great story. The goalkeeper, loaned by OM for 4 million euros per season, was to bring his experience to Girona, which is competing for the first time in its history in the Champions League.
But pure Gironese or not, Pau Lopez never convinced Michel Sanchez, his coach, to shake up the hierarchy of goalkeepers. And yet, Gazzaniga, the holder of the position, multiplied the blunders from the start of the season with a catastrophic match on the field of Atlético de Madrid where he was involved in all 3 Madrid goals. He was also in the game on the goal conceded at the Parc des Princes in mid-September which still allows PSG to be in the running for qualification for the Champions League.
Despite all that, Pau Lopez never had his chance. He ultimately only participated in one match in the colors of Girona, a round of the Copa del Rey in Logroño where the Catalans were pitifully eliminated on penalties. If a goalkeeper made people talk about him that evening, it was… Pol Arnau. The Logroño defender replaced his goalkeeper, injured during the match. Unlike Pau Lopez, he ruled out a shot on goal, that of the Olympic champion of Girona, Abel Ruiz, offering qualification to Logroñès.
For several weeks, the question of the continuation of the loan of Pau Lopez with a high salary had clearly arisen, even though Girona recruited, at the end of December, the promising Ukrainian goalkeeper Vladyslav Krapyvtsov.
The Catalan press announced this Monday the return of Pau Lopez to Marseille, who intends to take advantage of the transfer window for Ligue 1 goalkeepers to loan him again, either to Lens or Rennes.
NEWS @QueThiJugues
He @GironaFC TERMINATE the ASSIGNMENT agreement he had with Pau López and the footballer will return to Marseille to end up leaving for another Ligue 1 team.
The lack of adaptation/key opportunities in his departure, in which there was agreement by the 3 parties. pic.twitter.com/33f2p3SPWy
— Nil Solà (@Nilsola10) https://twitter.com/Nilsola10/status/1876224770792112333?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
“The lack of adaptation and opportunities were the keys to his departure”, indicated the Catalan press this Monday. The formalization of the termination of Pau Lopez’s loan could take place during the day.
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