Lyon's Champions League success creates a problem behind the scenes

yon beat Manchester City on Saturday night to reach the Champions League semi-finals for the second time in their history, but they remain in a very difficult position. After finishing seventh in Ligue 1 and failing to qualify for Europe for the first time in a generation, the club’s firebrand president, Jean-Michel Aulas, was so incensed by the league’s decision to truncate the 2019-20 campaign that he took them to court, chastising them in a detailed open letter along the way. Given that other major leagues managed to complete their seasons, Aulas now stands in the right. Yet the truth is that his complaints were also a distraction for a club that will have to face the music no matter when their Champions League campaign draws to a conclusion.

Lyon spent lavishly last summer by their standards – something they have not been able to do in the decade since the catastrophic purchases of Yoann Gourcuff, Ederson and Aly Cissokho left the club as poor on the pitch as on their balance sheet. The development of academy players, such as Alexandre Lacazette, Nabil Fékir and Corentin Tolisso helped them through some lean years.

There is still a bevy of promising youngsters on the books – most notably Houssem Aouar and Maxence Caqueret – but the club has blown the money they made from flipping younger players (Lucas Tousart to Hertha Berlin, Mariano Diaz to Real Madrid, Tanguy Ndombele to Tottenham and Ferland Mendy to Real Madrid) on overpriced imports. Lyon made three of their most expensive purchases of all time last summer, in the form of Jeff Reine-Adélaïde for €27.5m, Joachim Andersen for €24m and Thiago Mendes for €25m. All three were left on the bench by Rudi Garcia on Saturday night.

Garcia, of course, was not meant to be the man in charge. When Juninho Pernambucano took over as sporting director last year, he picked fellow Brazilian Sylvinho to replace the embattled Bruno Génésio as manager. Sylvinho’s tenure was a disaster. Lacking the linguistic, tactical and man-management skills required, he was gone by the middle of October. Lyon were floundering domestically at the time of his sacking, sitting 14th in Ligue 1 after a toothless defeat to Saint-Étienne in the derby. And, despite being given a relatively kind group in the Champions League, it looked as if they were heading for a swift elimination.

Garcia was brought in as an experienced head. He did not quite get Lyon over the line in the league but he probably would have secured them a Europa League place had the season played out to its natural conclusion. He has been more successful in the cups. Even though Reine-Adélaïde and Memphis Depay were absent, Garcia led Lyon to deep runs in the domestic cups – they lost to PSG in the Coupe de France semi-finals and the Coupe de la Ligue final – and he has continued that impressive form in Europe.

Andersen has been an unmitigated disaster. He has struggled to adapt to the faster pace of the French game and has left his teammates at the back badly exposed. Koné has been unlucky with injury, but he hardly pulled up any trees when he was fit. Given the emergence of academy graduate Melvin Bard (notice a theme here?), and Cornet’s conversion to left-back, he is now third choice. Mendes, too, has been underwhelming, with first Lucas Tousart and now Bruno Guimarães better in the holding midfield role.

Guimarães was a force of nature before lockdown, but even he looks to have dropped a level since competition resumed. He is still young and he has the qualities required to become a midfield revelation, even if he seems better suited to the box-to-box role that Caqueret is currently occupying. Reine-Adélaïde is probably exempt from this criticism and he is likely to play a bigger role next season should Aouar depart. Tino Kadewere, who arrived from Le Havre in January as the top scorer in Ligue 2, may yet prove a good buy. And Karl Toko-Ekambi, who signed a €11.5m permanent deal from Villarreal at the start of the year, has been a reliable presence in attack, even if he does not have a big resale value as a 27-year-old.

Overall though, Juninho’s record in the transfer market has been poor, especially when one adds in the €8m the club spent on Brazilian midfielder Jean Lucas, who has no hope of a starting place next season. Aulas is fond of saying that Lyon have a “club DNA” and this is true given the team’s continued reliance on young talent. Juninho ought to understand this, given the amount of time he spent playing for the club, but his recruitment policy does not reflect it.

The more Garcia succeeds in the Champions League, the more Juninho’s mistakes in the transfer window are magnified. Garcia is winning ties despite Juninho’s acquisitions rather than because of them and that is increasingly problematic for the club – especially if there is a major exodus once their Champions League campaign ends. Aulas faces a difficult decision. He will be loath to dismiss Juninho, a club legend, yet he is 71 years old and needs to find a successor who will take on his leadership role successfully and allow him to fulfil his ambition of stepping back from the club. Lyon’s brilliant chairman now faces a dilemma of proportions even more epic than his team’s Champions League win at the weekend.