Nabil Fekir is an exciting, young midfielder who looks destined for great things. The left-footer can weave his way past defences or split them open with his incisive passes. Of course, like most things that shine, his performances did not go unnoticed and several big guns of the European football world had cast their eyes on the Frenchman.
Liverpool were the frontrunners initially and reportedly came very close to nabbing him from Lyon’s hands. However, a move reportedly fell out in the last minute as Fekir suffered an injury and shortly afterwards, the club came out and stated that the 25-year-old will be staying at the club for the 2018-19 season.
However, interest still continued to flow in from different parts and Chelsea were one of the prominent teams that were identified by the media as a potential destination for Fekir.
In a short while, transfer rumours started gaining momentum again and it looked highly likely, according to reports, that Fekir was going to join Chelsea. However, the move did not work out and Chelsea fans are not bummed out as the Blues signed Jorginho and the new midfield anchored by N’Golo Kante and the former Napoli star looks very exciting.
Now, Lyon president Jean-Michael Aulas has now revealed why Nabil Fekir did not secure a switch to Chelsea over the summer.
In the beginning, when we thought about our summer transfer window and how to organise the future squad, we thought that he was practically gone. That’s why we have been able to adapt things. We spoke with Chelsea representatives, and they had no interest at all in him. From then on, we realised we could change our plans (as Nabil would stay).
Chelsea have an abundance of midfielders in their ranks with Ross Barkley, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Danny Drinkwater and Cesc Fabregas trying to get a place in the starting XI.