Tigana goes to £12.5m for Marlet
last updated Saturday 25th August 2001, 10:29 PM
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Steve
Marlet
picture |
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Position |
Striker |
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P.O.B. |
Pithiviers,
France |
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D.O.B |
10/01/1974 |
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Weight |
11st 5 |
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Height |
5' 10" |
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Lyon forward Steve Marlet admitted he was
"reasonably optimistic" about completing a move to Fulham next
week after Jean Tigana raised his offer for the France international to
£12.5 million.
Marlet said he was "in limbo" after club president Jean-Michel
Aulas was reported to have rejected a Fulham bid of £11 million.
Aulas is thought to have dug his heels in over keeping Marlet since captain
Sonny Anderson injured his knee.The Brazilian forward will be out for three
weeks.
Lyon general manager Bernard Lacombe confided on Friday that Marlet had
set his heart on a move to the Premiership.
And the forward, who would be turning his back on the Champions' League
and an assault on the domestic title if he left Lyon, made no secret of
his desire to leave when he said: "The president said there was a 95
per cent chance of me staying, which means there remains a five per cent
chance that I might leave."
Marlet, who scored in the 2-0 win at Troyes on Saturday night, added: "It
might be my last game with Lyon, and it might not be. I have a contract
running with Lyon, and I'm a professional player."
Lyon may only have a week before the Champions' League registration deadline
of August 31 to boost their strikeforce: but with Sidney Govou fit again
and new signing from Bastia Frederic Nee – who was the leading French
goalscorer last season – raring to go, cashing in on Marlet may prove
canny business.
Marlet has been weighing up his future since he was denied a pay rise this
summer after a stunning first season following a move from Auxerre last
year. After being transformed from a winger into an out-and-out front-man,
his pace and movement alongside Anderson and Govou caused problems to the
likes of Arsenal and Bayern Munich in the Champions' League, while he also
helped the club secure their first trophy - the French League Cup - for
28 years.
He was rewarded with a call-up to the full France side and scored his first
international goal against South Korea in the Confederations Cup earlier
in the summer.
Marlet played over 100 games for Auxerre, having joined them from the lower-division
Paris side Red Star. He had problems with his weight in the early stages
of his career, but he soon put those behind him and is now regarded as one
of the best strikers in le Championnat. |
Source onefootball
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