It looks like Olympique Lyonnais have chosen John Mensah over our defender Adil Rami. According to Football365, Mensah is going to sign a 4 year contract with Lyon worth 8 million euros.

Footlille says that their may still be a chance for Lille to sign Sébastien Puygrenier. I disagree, since LOSC leaders think he is too expensive. ASSE seems to think so as well. They aren’t even ready to hand over approx. 5 million euros to Nancy.

Nicolas Fauvergue says that Lille is reaching their top level of play:
“We are working very well. We had a tough week that helped us to progress physically. Already against Calais we were better.”

Grenoble wants Larsen Touré to come back. He was loaned to the club last season. There were rumors that the Isérois would sign him. They might just want to have him on loan again.

Rudi Garcia said that more LOSC players will probably leave this summer. Lichtsteiner looks to be out and Olympique Lyonnais wants Adil Rami. According to Mercato365, Stephan Lichtsteiner transferred to S.S. Lazio for 2 million euros. His contract is for 5 years. Stephan was in Rome today for his physical. Where Lille currently stands transfer wise:
Departures/Potential Departures
Kluivert (let go)
Fauvergue (Ligue 2)
Lichtsteiner (Lazio Rome) COMPLETED
Makoun (Lyon) COMPLETED
Maric
Mirallas (PSG, Marseille, Bordeaux, Saint-Etienne)
Schmitz (Valenciennes) COMPLETED
Sylva (fc – Trabzonspor) COMPLETED
Tahirovic (FC Zurich) COMPLETED
Youla

New Players/Potential Recruits
Balmont (Nice) COMPLETED
Bratu (Dinamo Bucarest)
Dernis (Saint-Etienne)
Desmarets (V.Guimaraes)
Janot (Saint-Etienne)
Juanma (Levante)
Lyng (Aarhus) COMPLETED
Mavuba (Villarreal) COMPLETED
Oulmers (Charleroi)
Piquionne (Monaco)
Tenorio (Al Saad)
L.Touré (May return on loan from Grenoble)

We still need at least one attacker, defender, and goalkeeper (Janot deal is close).

Kevin Mirallas was selected for Belgium’s Olympic squad. Lille will have to let him play in the Olympics because of Sepp Blatter’s ruling:
“The freeing of under 23 players is still obligatory for all clubs. For the 2008 Pekin Olympic Games the same principle applies.”
Make Belgium proud Mirallas! Allez Mirallas! Hup Mirallas!

Mercato365.fr reports that Carlos Tenorio’s chances of transferring to Lille are slim. He is too expensive for LOSC’s and Nice’s budgets. AS Monaco is supposedly the only club that can afford him. AZ Alkmaar also has joined the bargaining.

Lillois midfielder Ludovic Obraniak extended his contract through 2011. He played 35 matches last season. Good news! He plays really well in the midfield.

Today Lille plays a friendly against Stade de Reims at Camphin-en-Pévèle. The match will be a “close doors” match for security reasons. Les Dogues won their first friendly against Cherbourg 2-0.

Vedran Runje was supposed to be a replacement for Tony Sylva. The Lens keeper does not plan on leaving the club to return to Ligue 1. RC Lens was relegated to Ligue 2 last season. After finishing 18th in the table. Although I am still glad to see our rivals relegated, I will miss playing against them next season.

Lille has stopped seeking to sign Yacine Chikhaoui. The Tunisian international does not interest Rudi Garcia like he did Claude Puel. Samuel Robail wants to leave Lille for AC Ajaccio. He may be looking to leave for more playing time. Robail only played one match last season.

Lille’s new ball will be made form Uhlsport since our new outfitter Canterbury only specializes in rugby. Airness used to supply LOSC with kits and footballs.

La Voix des Sports reports that Cédric Baseya signed a contract with Lille. He is a Congolese striker. His former club was Crewe Alexandra Football Club who played in division 3 English football. Baseya only played 3 matches for them last season.

Noooo (picture Home Alone Macaulay Culkin scream)!!!! Lille has extended Grégory Malicki’s contract to 2010. He is one of the worst keepers in France, in my opinion. It is worse watching him in goal than Fabien Barthez. At least Barthez gets lucky with his saves. Malicki is just a flopping fish. How terrifying! Speaking of goalkeepers, Tony Sylva may end up returning to LOSC. Supposedly, an indemnity from last year’s contract is complicating things for Trabzonspor. Sounds like good news for Lille since two of our backup plans are slipping away. Charles Itandje is close to signing with Galatasaray and Grenoble also wants Jérémie Janot. I’m sure the newly promoted Ligue 1 club is poised to acquire Janot’s talents.

Two days after France’s Fête Nationale (Bastille Day for Anglophones), Lille unveils the 2008/2009 season kits. It will be Canterbury’s first time supplying LOSC.

AS Nancy announced their price for Sébastien Puygrenier’s transfer, 5 to 6 million euros. I doubt Lille will pay that much and to me he sounds overpriced.

PSG continues to negotiate with Lille for Stephan Lichtsteiner. Le Guen really wants the Swiss defender. He met with Lichtsteiner’s agent and brother Marko Lichtsteiner last monday.

The Goalkeeper Problem: Lille still isn’t sure who will be our number one keeper next season. Tony Sylva is supposed to be leaving, but no one else has signed him yet. L’Équipe reports that our current options are Sylva staying (Trabzonspor want him), Mickaël Landreau (unlikely since Le Guen wants to keep him), and Charles Itandje (Galatasaray is close to signing him). This really bothers me. The last thing you want to worry about heading into the next season is who will be in goal. It is one of the most important and valuable positions in football.

We still haven’t seen the club’s new kits. My guess is that the management was dissatisfied with Airness, because LOSC Lille Métropole has ditched them for someone else. Lille signed a four year deal with Canterbury. Canterbury mostly outfit Rugby clubs. The only two football clubs they support are Portsmouth and La Corogne. Hopefully, they will unveil the 2008/2009 LOSC kit soon.

Lille Friendlies:
Match 1: TBA
Match 2 : TBA
Match 3 : Lille – Calais: July 14 (Paul Delmotte, Linselles).
Match 4 : Zulte Waregem – Lille: July 19 (Regenboogstadion, Waregem).
Match 5 : Lille – Roulers: July 25 (Stadium TBA).
Match 6 : Lille – Mouscron: July 29 (Complexe sportif Ferdy, Touquet).
Match 7 : TBA
Match 8 : Brugge – Lille: August 3rd (Stade Jan Breydel, Brugge).
Friendly schedule courtesy of Footlille.fr.

Mathieu Chalmé was allowed to miss practice yesterday to complete his transfer to Girondins de Bordeaux. Supposely, Chalmé has been negotiating with Bordeaux for four years while playing for Lille. The former back right LOSC player, has been with the club for five seasons. He played in 15 UEFA Champions League matches, and 8 UEFA Cup matches. Chalmé will be officially presented to the press with Bordeaux at 16:00h (France time). He was a key player in Lille’s key line-up. This looks like another bad blow to the club.

The second best scorer of the Portuguese league, Eduardo Fernando Gomes (nicknamed Dady), has chosen to stay at his club,C.F. Os Belenenses. Dady was rumored to be signing to Lille for 3 million euros. Central defender, Rafael Schmitz, may be headed to Birmingham. The tabloid, Birmingham Mail, said that the club is interested in Rafael. This transfer is likely since Schmitz in the past expressed his desire to play in England. So yet another player may leave Les Dogues. I wish they would recruit more players instead of losing a player every other day! Lille has now lost a total of 11 players, and Rafael may leave as well. It’s sad that Lille can’t keep their players, and are having trouble recruiting new ones. Poor Les Dogues: