Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis and Lyon chief John Textor appear to have a pretty tidy relationship.
Lyon signed Moussa Niakhate and Orel Mangala from Forest last summer to ease any questions of breaching PSR for a second time.
This summer, Danilo is linked with Lyon, whilst remarkably Matt Turner could also be about to head to the French outfit.
However, there is a bit of a problem.
On Tuesday, it was announced that Lyon had been relegated from Ligue 1 following some financial misdemeanours, which could hamper Forest when it comes to selling Turner and Danilo.
Furthermore, Marinakis has also written to UEFA to essentially bemoan Textor’s role with both Crystal Palace and Lyon when it comes to playing in the Europa League next season.
Football finance expert makes Lyon claim which Forest fans will find intriguing
Lyon will be appealing this astonishing decision, given that they won’t want to relinquish their top-flight place or the ability to compete in the Europa League.
Forest fans will be hoping that the appeal is successful, given that the chances of Turner and Danilo being signed by Textor will be non-existent should it go against them.
Adam Williams is a man in the know when it comes to finances in football and he believes the appeal could provide good news for Forest.
He exclusively told Nottingham Forest News: “My instinct here is that Lyon’s administrative relegation will be overturned.
“Textor is about to get £190m for his shares in Palace, which he can use as security to satisfy the DNCG – the body in charge of running French football – that they are capable of servicing their debt, which is the reason this has happened.
“Most people I’ve spoken to in football finance share this view too. It’s probably a tactic from the DNCG to get Textor to focus on Lyon, as opposed to his other concerns in trying to list his Eagle Football Group on the New York Stock Exchange and the sale of his Palace shares.
“There is clearly some sort of relationship between Textor and Marinakis too, though to what extent that has survived the Europa League drama I don’t know.
“So you’ve got a lot of moving parts here in terms of whether Lyon are able and willing to commit to the deals for Turner and Danilo. But I think they will ultimately have the resources to get the deals back on, if it’s what they want.”
Forest face problem if Lyon appeal is unsuccessful
In fairness, offloading Danilo should not be tricky for Forest to do. Since signing for £16 million from Palmeiras, he’s largely done well, and that should count in his favour.
Turner is the one who will provide the sticking point and given that Lyon were going to pay £11 million for his signature, Forest might face a fight to recoup that fee from anyone else.
The American goalkeeper hasn’t been great at Forest and he will be behind Matz Sels and Carlos Miguel in the pecking order when the players resume for pre-season and Turner needs a new club.
As a result, it’s positive that Williams thinks Lyon’s case will be tossed out and they will be able to continue playing in Ligue 1 next season.
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