Olympique Lyonnais (Lyon) leaders have a signed contractual agreement with the Iranian striker, Sardar Azmoun who wants to join Peter Bosz’s team. The two clubs are very close to agreeing on the transfer fee of € 15 million, excluding bonuses.
The French sports publication L’ Equipe has published the news last night claiming the transfer of Azmoun. The article is translated below:
Failing to be able to count on André Onana, Peter Bosz the head coach of French Ligue 1 side Olympique Lyonnais will perhaps see his second priority of the summer arrive in the coming few days. The Dutch Coach is absolutely keen to recruit Sardar Azmoun, the Zenit St. Petersburg striker, as L’Equipe revealed on August 9. He also had talked to the Iranian international on the phone several times this summer to convince him to join OL. And the 25-year-old, whom Bosz already wanted to recruit for Leverkusen, was convinced.
With one year left to the end of his contract in Russia, Azmoun has rejected all offers to extend with Zenit, which forces the club to sell him before September 1 and the end of the transfer window if the club wishes to draw a transfer fee from the deal. Zenit will first have to find a replacement OL is trying to take advantage of this and has been negotiating hard for weeks on this issue. The Russian club leaders initially demanded 25 M €, a sum inaccessible for the finances of Lyon. But Vincent Ponsot, OL’s football director, is in the process of securing an agreement around a transfer fee estimated to be around € 15 million, excluding bonuses.
The player has agreed to personal terms for several days with OL for a long-term contract, probably for five years. His arrival nevertheless remains complex to finalize because Zenit has set a condition for the transfer: the Russian club must first find a replacement for Azmoun. The leaders, who primarily targeted Matheus Cunha of Hertha Berlin (finally at Atlético de Madrid), are now trying to convince Carlos Vinicius (Benfica), but are also looking at Andrea Belotti (Torino) and Gaëtan Laborde (Montpellier).
If Zenit manages to find a replacement solution this weekend, Azmoun could pass his medical examination on Monday, according to his entourage, on the eve of the closing of the transfer window, before joining his national team squad. The Iranian (55 caps, 37 goals) would come to occupy the place of Jean Lucas, sold to Monaco this summer.