Nabil Fekir maintains that his infamous failed move to Liverpool was filled with lies from all parties.
The Frenchman came very close to securing his dream switch to Liverpool for £53m in 2018. He had already flown to Anfield and even underwent the medical test before the entire deal was terminated by the Reds.
Reports claimed that Jurgen Klopp’s side were unhappy with the player’s health and since Olympique Lyon had held back on certain information they wanted to reduce the transfer fee. Upon hearing this, the Ligue 1 side refused and Liverpool had no choice but to pull the plug on the transfer. Fekir was picked to become their immediate replacement for Philippe Coutinho.
“Lots of lies were told and they affected me,” Fekir told L’Equipe. “Especially those told about my family. It hurt them and me. Especially when you know that’s what being told is false.
“What was said is not the truth. My knee is good – I had a quick medical check at Clairefontaine (France’s national training base) – my knee wasn’t even mentioned. If my knee had been in such a bad state, would Aulas (Lyon chairman Jean-Michel) have made [a huge offer to keep me]?
“But the worst thing is the idea that people could suggest that it’s because of my family that the transfer didn’t happen. It’s a lie. But you have to live with it. You want the truth? Even I don’t know – I promise you! I did my medical and then [Liverpool] decided not to sign me.
“At some point, they wanted to have me believe it was because of my knee – but an excuse needed to be found. The medical tests that I did at Clairefontaine were very clear – my knee is perfectly fine and I feel fine. There are no issues at all with my knee.”
More than 18 months have passed and Liverpool no longer are interested in the attacking midfielder. Jurgen Klopp has found other ways to fill the void left by Coutinho and Fekir has been able to move out of Lyon and sign with Real Betis. Now, we can only debate on whether this was a loss for Liverpool or not.
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