Late last week, we covered various reports from France who claimed that Everton had reached an agreement with Lyon over the transfer of their winger Rachid Ghezzal.
A fee of €11m was being thrown about, and the Premier League club had also made the player a contractual offer, which the player decided to take a few days to mull over.
Torn between either staying at Lyon for the coming season and leaving on a free, moving to Everton or signing a new contract at his current club, the winger has discarded one of these options: a move to England.
According to RMC Sport in France, Ghezzal has rejected Everton’s offer after a good long weekend of thinking, despite theirs being a ‘good’ one.
The player also has an offer from Lyon on the table to extend his current deal with a nice pay rise to boot, but will he take it? That is the big question in France.
Jean-Michel Aulas explained to RMC the offer ‘is important, with a salary matching that of players who play for their national team’.
We’ll have to see, but his move to Everton is now off.
UPDATE: L’Equipe journalist Bilel Ghazi has also confirmed this, but the national newspaper also explain the player prioritises an extended contract at Lyon as he wants to play in Europe.
Ghezzal a expliqué à Everton qu’il souhaitait jouer l’Europe et que sa décision était irrévocable. Nouvelles discussions avec Lyon à venir
— Bilel Ghazi (@BilelGhazi) August 22, 2016
Lyon qualified for the Champions League after finishing second in Ligue 1 last season.
