Liverpool outcast Xherdan Shaqiri has reportedly agreed on terms with Lyon; the offer is well below Liverpool’s £12 million valuation.
According to French outlet L’Equipe, Lyon are close to signing Liverpool winger Xherdan Shaqiri, who has agreed personal terms with the French giants. Les Gones, though, need to still reach an agreement with the Premier League heavyweights over the final sum of the transfer fee.
As per the report, Shaqiri has already agreed a three-year contract earning him around €350,000 per month. The Ligue 1 outfit have offered Liverpool only €4 million for their Swiss star, with the Reds rejecting the offer. The forward has earlier been linked with Italian clubs such as AS Roma and Lazio but were all forestalled due to Shaqiri’s monstrous wages.
The 30-year-old is keen on a move to Lyon, but both the French club and Liverpool are still negotiating their dispute over the difference in transfer valuation involved in the move.
The former Bayern Munich man joined Liverpool from Stoke City back in 2018 when the Reds activated the relegation release clause in Shaqiri’s contract. It was seen as a no-brainer considering the talent the Swiss possessed at the time, and he did not disappoint either as he scored six goals and provided five assists in 30 appearances for the Reds.
However, recurring injuries started to have an ill effect on his progress. Couple that with the consistency shown by Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah, and the diminutive winger has only remained an understudy; as a result, Shaqiri only featured in only 18 Premier League games for Liverpool over the past three campaigns.
Shaqiri again came back to the limelight more recently when he starred for Switzerland at UEFA Euro 2020, helping them reach the quarter-finals of the competition. His impressive displays and goals were enough to catch the attention of several potential suitors.
Shaqiri is in the final year of his contract at Liverpool, which means it is a last-gasp opportunity for Liverpool to recoup some of the amount invested in him. The Reds are a little anxious as they want to free up a foreign berth in the squad to bring an overseas replacement, and they also have an emerging talent in Harvey Elliott vying for more minutes at Anfield this term.
As for Lyon, they are looking for an apt low-cost replacement for Memphis Depay. In Shaqiri, they are getting a very explosive winger who is excellent at taking set-pieces and can deliver wicked balls into the box. It will be interesting to see whether or not will Lyon improve their bid to get their target over from Liverpool, especially with the player desperate for a move.
