Rio Mavuba Officially Lillois

By: Julien | July 6th, 2008

Rio Mavuba is now officially a Lillois! He finally signed a four year contract with Lille for around 5 to 7 million euros. Rio was loaned to Lille last season from Villareal. Great news for the club. The French international played really well last season.

Stephan Lichtsteiner discussed his future with Lille again:
“I talked to the manager by telephone. He was very sympathetic with me. I am sure that things will go well for LOSC especially with the Rio signing. Personally, I am not closing the door. The leaders of the club know what I want. They have to make an effort.”

L’Équipe reports that Lille and Sochaux have struck a deal for the transfer of Guirane N’Daw. The transfer will cost 3.5 million euros. So why isn’t he officially a Lillois? Because Xavier Thuillot, Lille general director, does not want to sign him. The LOSC recruters want N’Daw. Why doesn’t Thuillot? Things should develop more soon.

Sébastien Bassong may transfer to Everton instead of Lille. Everton is expected to offer 3 million euros. This is bad for Lille since he was supposed to replace Nicolas Plestan, one of our defenders that wants to leave. Also a key part of the LOSC gameplan is still weak, our offense. We still need at least one new striker. Two strikers are slipping away from Lille. Soufiane Alloudi is close to signing with Olympique de Marseille instead of Lille and Frédéric Piquionne wants to move to Nice. OGC Nice is also in a dog fight with Lille over Carlos Tenorio. Tenorio wants to play for either club.

Lille could move in on Marseille’s mishandling of Baky Koné’s transfer. He is slipping away from them since Marseille wants 4 million euros less than what Nice demands. Nice wants 12 million. Nice president Maurice Cohen spoke on the matter:
“Baky Koné is staying at Nice for now. We aren’t having any more discussions due to the failed agreement on Koné’s price. Today, Baky is Niçois and we are happy with that. Last season we promised to let him leave [...] but for a fair price! Baky finished the season as the 5th goal scorer of Ligue 1, he is an exceptional player. We have him valued at a certain price, and Marseille has him valued at another. We distanced ourselves from Marseille since the negotiations first failed.”

Yesterday, Lille played a friendly against Cherbourg. We won the match 2-0 thanks to a goal from Makiese and Fauvergue. Most LOSC players played, but for no longer than 45 minutes. Emil Lyng and Florent Balmont played their first match with Lille.