Football Season Guide

Lyon provided a surprisingly stiff challenge in Ligue 1 last season and spent much of the campaign in the title hunt before fading at the end. Nevertheless, qualification to the Europa League was a decent effort for OL, although not quite what they wanted at the start of the season. Head coach Rudi Garcia was never a popular figure among the fans of the club and departed in the summer, but more pertinent was the departure of Memphis Depay, who transferred to Barcelona on a free when his contract expired. He was an ‘X-factor’ in the Lyon side, although he did pad his statistics somewhat with penalties and goals against weaker sides. Nevertheless, he was an important player and one that OL will not be able to replace. Lyon have had something of an overhaul over the course of the summer, with Peter Bosz arriving to become head coach. It promises to be a tricky transition for Lyon, as Bosz arrives with very definite ideas of his playing style and reports suggest that some players have struggled to adapt to this in pre-season. Nevertheless, the coach spent some of his playing career in France and can speak the language, which should help the transition. Beyond Memphis, though, Lyon have not transformed their squad significantly. They have sold Joachim Andersen, Jean Lucas and Melvin Bard, but none of these players had a significant role last term, and indeed the first two spent a long period away on loan. Sporting director Juninho, meanwhile, is again trying to exploit his knowledge of the Brazilian market to pick up bargains, in this case left-back Henrique from Vasco da Gama. Meanwhile, veteran defender Damien Da Silva is the only other player to arrive. Lyon, therefore, start the season with much the same squad that they ended last term, with many of the same strengths and weaknesses. They were unpredictable last season against weaker opponents and that trend may well continue. Additionally, Lyon’s pre-season matches saw a plethora of goals at both ends of the park, suggesting there is much work to be done defensively. The squad, meanwhile, is not totally settled, with the suggestion that Houssem Aouar could depart, albeit after a somewhat disappointing 18 months. Key men promise to be Moussa Dembele, who returns from a loan with Atletico Madrid and must rediscover his form, Lucas Paqueta, who shone at the Copa America with Brazil, and centre-back Jason Denayer. Lyon, meanwhile, have regularly relied on their academy, but that will be magnified this season.