‘Everything fell through,’ Everton and Tottenham players wanted by the same club ended up with someone else.
Lyon ‘initiated’ approaches for Everton winger Demarai Gray and Tottenham’s Bryan Gil on deadline day, but neither was successful.
According to L’Equipe, after failed moves for the Ligue 1 club, the club instead pursued Chelsea starlet Diego Moreira.
According to the newspaper, Lyon ‘had been pondering’ about recruiting an additional winger before the transfer deadline after selling Bradley Barcola to Paris Saint-Germain for €50 million.
Several tracks were ‘activated’ in their late pursuit, and they looked at Everton’s Demarai Gray and Tottenham youngster Bryan Gil, in addition to Almeria’s Largie Ramazani.
Deals for both players were pursued on the final day of the window, but ‘all fell through’ due to financial or schedule constraints. On that front, it is unclear which players fall into certain categories.
They eventually signed Moreira from Chelsea late in the day, with his agent, Jorge Mendes, having direct contact with Lyon owner John Textor and helping to speed up negotiations and push them through.
He ended up being the man they got, leaving Gray at Everton and Gil at Tottenham in a predicament that neither player enjoys.
The former is out of favor under Sean Dyche, while the latter is yet to be given a chance by Ange Postecoglou, despite the Australian reintegrating several players back into the squad since taking over at Spurs this summer.
That would imply he is not a part of the plans, and, like Gray, he may be considering what options remain open to him, the obvious answer being Saudi Arabia.
