Garde to advise over possible Gomis sale
Lyon coach Remi Garde will be asked for his input before the club consider selling sought-after striker Bafetimbi Gomis, OL president Jean-Michel Aulas has said.
Gomis, who is OL's top scorer this season, and Michel Bastos have been touted as possible players Lyon could sell in January to help balance their books, which are €28 million in the red.
Though OL are yet to receive an offer for Gomis, both Chelsea and Liverpool have been linked with the France international - but neither he nor Bastos will depart the Stade de Gerland without Garde contributing his thoughts on the matter.
"They are playing well, but are they allowing the youngsters from the youth academy to express themselves fully?" Aulas asked the club's general assembly. "The coach will have a say in it. It will also depend on the position of the market."
"I was deeply hurt by those nasty and ill-timed words [of Leonardo]. But just like what Zlatan did, it was something that wasn't thought through," claimed Aulas - before turning his attention to this weekend's potentially feisty reunion with former coach Claude Puel.
"Of course it's not a neutral game emotionally," said Aulas, who has exchanged barbed words via the media with Puel since the current Nice boss' acrimonious departure from OL in 2011. Puel remains locked in a legal battle with the club, claiming more than €3 million for the year he had left on his OL contract when he was sacked.
"He left on bad terms," Aulas said. "He was OL coach for three years, which wasn't necessarily a good period for the club."
He added: "If I come across him, I'll shake his hand, just as I shake the hand of all the coaches. There's no bitterness."
