At OL Park,
The most tenacious trolls like to recall that Jack Kachkar had also attended a match of his future ex-club 15 years earlier. The improbable Canadian businessman had done it well, by chaining a lap of honor at the Vélodrome and dancing on a table in the Marseille locker room, after qualifying for the Coupe de France of OM against OL (2-1). Lionel Messi may have ruined this late-night prospect at John Textor on Sunday at Parc OL, precipitating a third consecutive defeat (0-1) for the Lyon team in Ligue 1. Nevertheless, the investor 56-year-old American did indeed attend his first meeting within the formidable tool of Décines.
Should we see a reassuring sign in view of his takeover of the club, four days after an article by The Team evoking its difficulties in completing its financing? Even if John Textor only has 12 days left (the deadline for exclusive negotiations has been set for September 30) to acquire Olympique Lyonnais, via his company Eagle Football, the club’s entourage has not officially leaked the slightest concern.
The OL acquisition process would “normally follow its course”, while the American businessman must buy back 66.56% of the shares, including those of President Jean-Michel Aulas, current reference shareholder (27 .56%), but also those of Pathé (19.26%) and the Chinese investment fund IDG Capital (19.74%), for an estimated amount of around 600 million euros. Among the recent elements, since the last general meeting of OL Groupe on July 29, it should be noted that John Textor denied on August 26, via his Twitter account, “considering” taking over the club from Vitesse Arnhem (Eredivisie), like the mentioned a Dutch media.
In recent days, however, several media have claimed that one of John Textor’s two partners in Eagle Football, Bill Foley, would like to buy the English club Bournemouth, currently 12th in the Premier League. Any news likely to compromise John Textor’s investment in Lyon?
There would be no direct consequence in appearance for the one who already owns the Botafogo club (Brazil), and co-shareholder of Crystal Palace (Premier League) and Molenbeek (Belgian D2). But still, John Textor has not yet paid a single euro for his acquisition in Lyon, three months after being presented at a press conference as the new majority shareholder of the club.
After having already criticized the economic model of PSG on several occasions, he took his place in the presidential stand at Parc OL on Sunday, between Jean-Michel Aulas and his director of football Vincent Ponsot.
A supporter on the lookout for a photo taken in Brussels
Earlier today, the first person to welcome him to the Lyon region was none other than Max, an OL supporter addicted to real-time flight monitoring. Three years ago, 20 minutes had just devoted an unusual subject to Max and his friends, almost as attached to the Flightradar24 app as to their favorite club. Max was alone, at 12.20 p.m., to welcome a John Textor getting off the plane at Bron airport (Rhône) accompanied by his son, before taking a taxi to pick up his wife and then join Décines.
“I saw that John Textor had posted a photo from Brussels on Saturday evening on his Twitter account, explains Max. So I looked to see if on Sunday morning there was not a reserved jet between Brussels and Lyon. “Bingo, the adept at “air tracking” of future players, but also therefore a potential owner, showed up to welcome the American businessman. “He was very cool, although surprised to see an OL supporter as soon as he got off the plane. I wanted to welcome him, and he told me that I was his first Lyon selfie. ” The first of a long series ? Tick, tock, tick, tock, by September 30.