L’Équipe report tonight that Lyon forward and captain Moussa Dembélé intends to stay at the club going into next season, in spite of Alexandre Lacazette’s return to the club on a free transfer to Arsenal, to much fanfare.
Lyon’s lack of midweek commitments after missing out on Europe entirely last season will mean the potential playing time split between the attacking options will be smaller.
Dembélé, who scored an impressive 17 goals in the second half of the season and was one of Les Gones’ key players in a disappointing season, sees his current deal expire at the end of next year.
He has no desire to leave as of yet, even if his place as a starter is not locked down right now. The club are even planning to open talks over a renewal in the coming months.
Peter Bosz sees him just as much as an attacking partner for Lacazette as competition. The striker himself has understood the need for attacking options given the fact that Karl Toko Ekambi is more often used out wide and the club are looking to sell Tino Kadewere.
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He has also appreciated the fact that Bosz decided to place his faith in him in the winter rather than go for one of the transfer targets offered to him by the club’s upper management, following Sardar Azmoun’s move to Bayer Leverkusen. Dembélé also has past experience in a two-man attack, from Odsonne Édouard at Celtic to Kingsley Coman in the PSG youth teams.
In any case, it remains to be seen whether his stance on staying will change should he be relegated to the bench in the opening games of the season.