Spending five years at Manchester City without ever featuring for the Premier League side, Jason Denayer decided he’d had enough of being loaned out every season and pushed for a permanent transfer elsewhere.
The vast majority of the summer went by until Lyon in Ligue 1 came in for the 23-year-old, and a move was sealed on August 21st for just under £6m.
A small profit for Manchester City who picked Denayer up from JMG Lier in 2013 for their U18 squad before sending him to Celtic, Galatasaray (twice) and Sunderland on temporary spells for him to get first-team football under his belt.
Despite performing well enough during those moves, the centre-back has found a new level since moving to France, and the defender puts it down to him having less to think about these days following his summer transfer.
Putting pen to paper to a four year contract with Lyon, there has already been talk of him moving in the summer to a bigger club, although Denayer quickly quashed those rumours, explaining he wasn’t going to leave after just one season in the south of France.
Time is on his side, and at his age, guaranteed first-team football in a competitive league is all he needs, and that’s what he’s getting.
