Olympique de Lyonnais targeting Paris Saint-Germain defender http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sylvain-Armand-c34429 – Ligue 1 news
Reports in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/France-c2899 suggest that seven-time Ligue 1 champions Olympique de Lyonnais have identified Paris Saint-Germain central defender Sylvain Armand as their transfer target this summer.
Remi Garde is reportedly on the verge of replacing Claude Puel as the coach of Les Gones and the 45-year-old has already started identifying new players ahead of the 2011/2012 Ligue 1 season. Reports suggest that Garde has already spoken about the player
with Lyon http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sporting-89-c40576 Director Bernard Lacombe about Armand.
According to Paris-based newspaper, Le Parisien, Lyon are now looking to find a replacement for http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Senegal-c3001 international Pape Diakhate who returned to parent club Dynamo Kyiv following the end of his loan move to Stade Gerland. Initially it was rumoured that
Lyon might make a permanent deal for Diakhate. However, the club direction was not totally impressed by Diakhate’s performances and chose not to sign him permanently.
Lyon’s http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Defence-c38904 showed fragility throughout the 2010/2011 Ligue 1 campaign and the club’s direction has made recruiting a good central defender its priority in the current transfer window. Armand is under contract at PSG until June 2012 but with the club
linked with moves for several players, the Frenchman might find first-team opportunities hard to come by next season.
This is not the first time Lyon have been linked with a move for the former Nantes man. In 2007, the club did make a bid for the 30-year-old but it was rejected at that time by Les Parisiens. However, PSG might be willing to let go of the player this time
as competition for places in the starting XI is bound to get even tougher next season.
The Saint-Etienne-born defender started his career with Clermont Foot and in 2000, joined FC Nantes where he made over 118 appearances before departing for Paris Saint-Germain in 2004. Since then, Armand has made 302 appearances for Les Parisiens and has
scored nine goals. With Lyon in desperate need of a new defender, Armand might be the kind of defender who could plug few of the holes in Lyon’s shaky defence. Furthermore, his experience of playing top level football for over a decade would be appreciated
a lot at Stade Gerland.
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