Liverpool and Lyon bin Fekir negotiations

After hitting a not so slight snag, Liverpool’s pursuit of Lyon’s Nabil Fekir has come to an unexpected end.

It was widely reported that the two clubs had agreed a fee and that Fekir had even agreed personal terms with Liverpool, before Lyon suddenly declared that they have pulled out of the negotiations and that Fekir will stay put.

Various speculations were voiced about a possible reason for this surprising turn of events, but as time passes the media outlets reporting on this matter are coming to the same conclusion: something went wrong during the medical exam. Liverpool Echo now claim that the deal had collapsed on Friday after the medical had taken place and after Liverpool’s medical team sought a second opinion on Fekir’s knee.

The French attacking midfielder suffered an ACL tear in 2015, subsequently missing seven months of action. To make matters worse, he has had issues with the same knee again. Having experienced what such an injury could mean with Danny Ings and Joe Gomez, Liverpool would certainly think twice before investing £52million into a player with that problem.

Some believe that the deal could yet be resurrected after the World Cup, but at this point it doesn’t seem very likely.