Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas has revealed offering Chelsea the chance to seal the transfer of Nabil Fekir this summer.
However, the Blues were apparently not interested at all in bringing in the talented France international, who had also been linked strongly with Liverpool at various points.
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The Daily Mirror were among the sources to state Fekir was a target for the Reds, but a deal never materialised despite Lyon’s apparent willingness to let their star player go.
Quite why Chelsea didn’t want him is not clear, but Aulas has now been quoted as saying he expected the 25-year-old to quit the club and that he’d held talks with CFC about a deal.
“In the beginning, when we thought about our summer transfer window and how to organise the future squad, we thought that he [Fekir] was practically gone,” Aulas is quoted in the Mirror.
“That’s why we have been able to adapt things.
“We spoke with Chelsea representatives, and they had no interest at all in him.
“From then on, we realised we could change our plans [as he would stay].”
The west Londoners already have plenty of options in attack due to the presence of Eden Hazard, Willian and Pedro, but could perhaps have done with Fekir as an option up front due to his impressive scoring record in comparison to Alvaro Morata.
Then again, Liverpool also had good options up front but were perhaps more willing to bolster their squad after losing Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona in January, though they eventually signed Xherdan Shaqiri instead.