Nabil Fekir (Lyon)

1. We agreed terms and fees
2. Fekir had his medical and 2nd opinion
3. LFC medical staff and physicians looked at the Knee scans and did not like what they saw. Passing a fitness assessment is different than assessing a future injury problem.
4. LFC decided not to risk it because he may or may not be injury prone in the future decided to pull the plug.

It's not that hard folks

But how about the media sh*t that Fekir did with us (supposedly gave an interview and pictures)? Surely that should be after the medical? So confusing!!

Targeted a well with a well known ACL injury, then looking for a discount off a notoriously tough negotiator because of it.

It's not John Henry's fault but it's another in a long line of transfer fiascos under their watch.

Another in a long line of 'alternatives' to to follow.

Have you honestly not seen an improvement in our transfer business since Klopp came in?

This thread and whole deal reminds me of this

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GiPe1OiKQuk

The general consensus (based on rumour - true or false?) is that 1-3 of your list has happened. Even going so far as completing LFC interview, and photos etc all done.

However, rather than point 4, there is a reported claim about LFC renegotiating the deal. This is possible. It makes sense.

Now, this is not to say Liverpool tried to hardball a cut in the fee as has been claimed. However, the key word I have seen mention is a restructure to the deal. Given that the fee these days is based on several factors, and many ways of committing to a fee, I suspect if anything, it would be more to do with the breakdown (restructure) of the fee.

Say, originally the fee is £50m total which could be based on £30m upfront, £10m based on CL performances, and £10m based on PL performances over 2 years. Then LFC say, due to the knee, we will go £20m upfront, with a split of £20m on X number of PL performances...

Ignore the figures like, but hope you get the idea. It would make sense to renegotiate the deal along those lines if there was a doubt over his future fitness.

Ultimately, it does sound like it is Lyon who threw their toys out of the pram and are portraying this as a moral win for the club. "the player will be with us for the new campaign etc. etc". None of which means anything at this stage, and I believe Fekir will join soon.

I don’t believe there was any sort of renegotiation. LFC journos are in the same wave length saying that the club got scared of the knee and decided that it is not worth spending 50m on a player that is showing wear cartlidge in one of his knees. Especially that now the club denied allegations that we renegotiated.

Look, I’m not saying I’ve seen the assesment report, but I do believe that the club didn’t like what their second physician said and decided to pursue other targets.

Not saying I’m right, your version of events might be true too. But these things happen, and if it was true that the club was worried about potential long term injury then it’s very sensible from them to say “no” and pursue other targets.

Well it is that hard because not even Lyon, who released a statement saying he will be staying have stated the reasons why. Seeing as Lyon have been far from shy going public over every little thing so far about this, it’s strange they’ve failed to state the reasons why. If it was us who pulled the plug on it or tried changing the deal then I have no doubts they’d have said this is the case in order to try and make us look bad and turn Fekir against ever wanting a move to us. Aulas had no qualms about slating Chelsea over Essien, so IMO he’s the one who’s pulled the plug on this. Think we are just keeping a dignified silence for after the World Cup.

Maybe you’re right, and Aulas is being a f**** trying to twist our arms.

Even by the standards of the FSG era, this is a deeply disappointing but entirely predictable turn of events.

Really hope this deal isn't dead, would be so good for just one summer where we aren't a Liverpool manager having to make do with inferior 'alternatives'

Why are you blaming FSG? It was Lyon who pulled the deal, not us. Would you have us pay over the odds for someone with fitness issues? We should not be held to ransom by egos. There are plenty of other good players out there.

We can look at this two ways:

1. We've messed up big time in failing to sign a potentially world class player by not overlooking the knee concern and coughing up the full asking price.

or

2. We've just dodged a bullet by not risking over £50 million on a player with a dodgy knee who had a very high risk of re-injuring especially in a league as intense as the PL. Also a player who is thus far unproven at the highest level.

For the amount of money on the line I'm starting to lean towards the latter.

I don't know why we are all falling out about this with a you're wrong, you're out of order, you don't know.... etc etc

This is probably one of the most confusing transfer collapses I can recall so no wonder everyone is confused

Let's hope we move on quick or get it sorted

No need to fall out over something so confusing and as far from black and white as you can get

Apparently the deal is back on, pressure from Lyon shareholders has forced a turnaround according to reports.

Apparently the deal is back on, pressure from Lyon shareholders has forced a turnaround according to reports.

Source mate?

1. We agreed terms and fees
2. Fekir had his medical and 2nd opinion
3. LFC medical staff and physicians looked at the Knee scans and did not like what they saw. Passing a fitness assessment is different than assessing a future injury problem.
4. LFC decided not to risk it because he may or may not be injury prone in the future decided to pull the plug.

It's not that hard folks

If this is the case then we'll done to the lfc staff I say. £50 million is alot of money to risk on a player no matter how good he is.

Sorry, I misread this. The Echo said we pulled out after the medical and didn't say anything other than don't expect an announcement. Then Lyon tried to re-open negotiations but we weren't interested.

As I said before, what actually happened? I have no idea.

But you would think the club would release a statement along the lines of fekir failed his medical or we weren't happy with his medical?

Back to my original point though. Once we have agreed a fee with Lyon who then grant us permission to speak to fekir to negotiate personal terms and carry out a medical, surely it's too late for Lyon to pull the plug and discuss fees with us again. They'd be open to all kinds of action like I said.

It looks to me like we've pulled the plug and it's us who have tried to re negotiate the deal. Something which, let's be brutally honest here, FSG have form for.

But you would think the club would release a statement along the lines of fekir failed his medical or we weren't happy with his medical?

Back to my original point though. Once we have agreed a fee with Lyon who then grant us permission to speak to fekir to negotiate personal terms and carry out a medical, surely it's too late for Lyon to pull the plug and discuss fees with us again. They'd be open to all kinds of action like I said.

It looks to me like we've pulled the plug and it's us who have tried to re negotiate the deal. Something which, let's be brutally honest here, FSG have form for.

The club have been very tight lipped on transfers lately and I see no reason why this should change.

I don't know why we are all falling out about this with a you're wrong, you're out of order, you don't know.... etc etc

This is probably one of the most confusing transfer collapses I can recall so no wonder everyone is confused

Let's hope we move on quick or get it sorted

No need to fall out over something so confusing and as far from black and white as you can get

Well said. That Neil Jones' article that was posted was good analysis, not of knowing what happened exactly, but in knowing what Liverpool will do next. Clearly we are prepared to spend big money on the right player, so let's see if they have another target for attacking mid.

He also pointed out that Pulisic does not play the same role as Fekir. We address another area if we go for him (I'm personally in favor of both/and, mind).

But you would think the club would release a statement along the lines of fekir failed his medical or we weren't happy with his medical?

Back to my original point though. Once we have agreed a fee with Lyon who then grant us permission to speak to fekir to negotiate personal terms and carry out a medical, surely it's too late for Lyon to pull the plug and discuss fees with us again. They'd be open to all kinds of action like I said.

It looks to me like we've pulled the plug and it's us who have tried to re negotiate the deal. Something which, let's be brutally honest here, FSG have form for.

Not sure the  normal sequence of things.  Could it be verbally agreed and then later on the selling club move the goalsticks? If so, it's unethical, but probably not illegal per se.

The weirdest part for me is that the player was allowed to do an interview for LFC Tv BEFORE the results of the medical was known or (apparently) the deal was finalized. What would be the down side of the club of waiting a bit for that kind of publicity. I know he was set to fly out the following day (yesterday), but I'm pretty sure for most of us the news that he had officially moved is sufficient for now. We can get the piccy of him playing keepy-uppy in July, no worries.

According to this he did fail his medical and we pulled the plug. I’m confused though, it says that de deal was cancelled on Friday, but I believe he had his medical on Saturday. Probably I’m wrong and he had the medical on Friday.

Liverpool to reassess list of transfer targets after calling off Nabil Fekir move

Liverpool will reassess their list of targets to replace Philippe Coutinho after calling off the £53 million deal for Lyon’s Nabil Fekir.

The French side issued a statement on Saturday confirming the end of negotiations with the Merseyside club. That was a direct response to Liverpool’s decision to pull out of the deal 24 hours earlier.

Liverpool informed Lyon on Friday they were not going ahead as scheduled following Fekir’s medical, despite a fee and personal terms being agreed. There was no attempt from Liverpool to renegotiate terms.

The last 48 hours represent a significant setback in Jürgen Klopp’s summer transfer plans – especially as so much progress was made convincing the 24-year-old midfielder to move to Liverpool and in agreeing a fee with Lyon.

The blow is compounded by the fact one of Liverpool’s alternative targets to take the ten jersey vacated by Coutinho, West Ham’s Manuel Lanzini, suffered a cruciate ligament injury when training with Argentina last week.

Liverpool drew up a list of possible replacements after Coutinho's sale to Barcelona in January and felt Fekir was the ideal attacking midfield recruit.

Although there has been no indication from Liverpool of the nature of the late hitch, the circumstances are self-evident. The fact everything was agreed pending the outcome of the medical explains when complications arose. There are confidentiality issues preventing details of medical examinations being made public so there will be no confirmation from either side as to what caused the rethink.


What is a matter of record is Fekir suffered a serious knee injury three years ago, and also underwent a minor knee procedure last March. There is no surprise Liverpool would have been examining this closely given Fekir's injury issues.

It would be impossible for a club’s medical team to recommend a deal proceed – especially one so expensive - if there are concerns a previous or existing problem will flare up again.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/06/10/liverpool-reassess-list-transfer-targets-calling-nabil-fekir/

Apparently the deal is back on, pressure from Lyon shareholders has forced a turnaround according to reports.

The deal is dead in the water mate.

Fekir failed his medical.

We're moving on and perusing alternative players.

According to this he did fail his medical and we pulled the plug. I’m confused though, it says that de deal was cancelled on Friday, but I believe he had his medical on Saturday. Probably I’m wrong and he had the medical on Friday.

Liverpool to reassess list of transfer targets after calling off Nabil Fekir move

Liverpool will reassess their list of targets to replace Philippe Coutinho after calling off the £53 million deal for Lyon’s Nabil Fekir.

The French side issued a statement on Saturday confirming the end of negotiations with the Merseyside club. That was a direct response to Liverpool’s decision to pull out of the deal 24 hours earlier.

Liverpool informed Lyon on Friday they were not going ahead as scheduled following Fekir’s medical, despite a fee and personal terms being agreed. There was no attempt from Liverpool to renegotiate terms.

The last 48 hours represent a significant setback in Jürgen Klopp’s summer transfer plans – especially as so much progress was made convincing the 24-year-old midfielder to move to Liverpool and in agreeing a fee with Lyon.

The blow is compounded by the fact one of Liverpool’s alternative targets to take the ten jersey vacated by Coutinho, West Ham’s Manuel Lanzini, suffered a cruciate ligament injury when training with Argentina last week.

Liverpool drew up a list of possible replacements after Coutinho's sale to Barcelona in January and felt Fekir was the ideal attacking midfield recruit.

Although there has been no indication from Liverpool of the nature of the late hitch, the circumstances are self-evident. The fact everything was agreed pending the outcome of the medical explains when complications arose. There are confidentiality issues preventing details of medical examinations being made public so there will be no confirmation from either side as to what caused the rethink.


What is a matter of record is Fekir suffered a serious knee injury three years ago, and also underwent a minor knee procedure last March. There is no surprise Liverpool would have been examining this closely given Fekir's injury issues.

It would be impossible for a club’s medical team to recommend a deal proceed – especially one so expensive - if there are concerns a previous or existing problem will flare up again.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/06/10/liverpool-reassess-list-transfer-targets-calling-nabil-fekir/

This ties things up a lot better, especially the part about the fee and contract agreements "pending a medical" and the confidentiality agreements preventing public disclosure of medical results.

Disappointing and I feel badly for the player as well. Let's see if the club scouts have been thorough now.

Also wondering who Barry Hunter was looking at in the France-USA match.

This ties things up a lot better, especially the part about the fee and contract agreements "pending a medical" and the confidentiality agreements preventing public disclosure of medical results.

Disappointing and I feel badly for the player as well. Let's see if the club scouts have been thorough now.

Also wondering who Barry Hunter was looking at in the France-USA match.

So you telling me they went ahead and did all the LFCTV media stuff prior to doing his medical? Because that would be just foolish?
https://twitter.com/empireofthekop/status/1005065020202418176?s=20

So you telling me they went ahead and did all the LFCTV media stuff prior to doing his medical? Because that would be just foolish?
https://twitter.com/empireofthekop/status/1005065020202418176?s=20

At least before they got the results, and I've already said somewhere on here that they shouldn't do this (and at least not leak a piccy of it). But at least in terms of the decision not to complete the transfer, it's kosher now as that "pending a medical" qualifier is always present.

And for the record, i'm just referring to what the article, which strikes me as more authoritative than the speculation I've seen, says. Who knows, tomorrow there may be an entirely new scenario where Graeme Souness and Sepp Blatter had a love child who posed as the Lyon chairman and ruined the whole deal.

*Checks clock* - yep, it's time to go to sleep.

So you telling me they went ahead and did all the LFCTV media stuff prior to doing his medical? Because that would be just foolish?
https://twitter.com/empireofthekop/status/1005065020202418176?s=20

I'm guessing there was a rush to get things done asap with him needing to go back on national duty so I can understand why we did all that media stuff before the medical results came through.

We wouldn't have had a clue about it if it hadn't been leaked anyway, and I'm guessing whoever did leak it doesn't work for the club anymore.

I'm guessing there was a rush to get things done asap with him needing to go back on national duty so I can understand why we did all that media stuff before the medical results came through.

We wouldn't have had a clue about it if it hadn't been leaked anyway, and I'm guessing whoever did leak it doesn't work for the club anymore.

Exactly mate, it's not uncommon for clubs to prepare all the media stuff prior to a big money transfer. They like to hit the ground running as soon as the papers are signed to sell the shirts and merchandise, hype the player, send out a message to the competition...the usual stuff. It takes weeks to prepare all that, so I don't blame the club for being prepared.

Echo saying today that Lyon pulled the plug. anyways i wouldnt be shocked if we went after him again. See Keita and VVD, they were our main targets, i suspect thats because JK wanted them and we got them no matter what.
Both of those deals looked dead for awhile. heck we even apologised for going after VVD.

Echo saying today that Lyon pulled the plug. anyways i wouldnt be shocked if we went after him again. See Keita and VVD, they were our main targets, i suspect thats because JK wanted them and we got them no matter what.
Both of those deals looked dead for awhile. heck we even apologised for going after VVD.

Hmm.. you have a good point here mate, especially that Klopp is loyal to his players/targets (i.e keita and VVD).

Maybe right now we are waiting for Lyon to calm down then after the WC we go back in for him?