When it comes to developing players and selling them at a huge profit, few clubs in European football are better than Lyon in the French top-flight. A case in point and the focus of this analysis saw the French international central midfielder Tanguy Ndombele leave the French side to join Spurs in the English Premier League for a reported £65M. This deal comes after Lyon had fully owned the player for a single season. Their outlay? Reportedly a £2M loan fee and then an £8M fee to make the loan permanent. An incredible profit considering not only the initial outlay paid for the player but also the level of performance and contributions that they extracted from Ndombele. You could comfortably argue that those comfortably justified the financial outlay before you even factor in the profit from his latest transfer.
The idea behind this article, however, lies not in a simple analysis when looking at transfer profit. Instead, I want to concentrate on the contributions made by Ndombele on the pitch and examine exactly what Lyon have lost and what they have to replace. This is the crux of any transfer deal made by intelligent clubs. Often now the financial aspect of a transfer deal is largely secondary, the actual financial value of the deal, after all, tends to be spread over the course of the players’ new contract after all. This means that with Ndombele signing a reported six-year deal the value of the contract should be spread over the course of that term. This should see Lyon receive roughly £9.1M per financial year over 6 years for the deal.
If you want to read the full piece on Lyon and their road to replacing Tanguy Ndombele, head over to totalfootballanalysis.com or click HERE
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