According to recent reports, Olympique Lyon are working on a move for Crystal Palace centre-back Mamadou Sakho.
The reports by French publication L’Equipe (via Sport Witness) claim that the French side are on the hunt for a new centre-back this summer, as Joachim Andersen has failed to ‘fully impose himself in Ligue 1’ after his £21.60m move from Sampdoria last summer.
According to the reports, there is a ‘disagreement’ at Lyon as to whether the club should opt for a younger prospect – much like the Andersen signing of last summer – or make a move for a player with more experience.
The second half of this dispute has prompted discussions with 30-year-old Sakho’s representatives, with the reports suggesting that the talks have even gone as far as offering the defender a contract at the club.
However, as yet, there has been no mention of Lyon discussing the potential deal with Crystal Palace, and, as the £8.55m-rated defender is under contract in South London until the summer of 2021, it is possible that a relatively substantial fee would have to be offered by Lyon in order to secure the move.
TIF Thoughts…
Since joining Palace from Liverpool for a fee of £25.38m back in August 2017, Sakho has gone on to make 63 appearances for the Eagles, scoring one goal and providing two assists.
So far this season, the former Liverpool and PSG defender has struggled for game time in the Premier League, in part due to injury and suspension.
Making just eight appearances in the competition – over which he has averaged 0.5 tackles, 1.4 interceptions, 2.6 clearances and 0.1 blocks per game – the defender has averaged a disappointing WhoScored match rating of 6.21.
With these rather underwhelming performances, as well as the fact that Palace could also call on the likes of James Tomkins, Gary Cahill, Jairo Riedewald, Scott Dann and Ryan Inniss to play in the centre of defence, it would appear that the club is not exactly in desperate need of Sakho’s services.
Would you like to see the club sell Sakho this summer?
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No
As such, should Lyon offer Palace a sensible amount of money for the defender, it would not surprise us to see the 30-year-old packing his bags sooner rather than later.