Lyon chief Jean-Michel Aulas has revealed he was forced into finding an agreement with Chelsea for defender Malo Gusto in the January transfer window.
Gusto completed a move to Chelsea at the end of last month after the Blues had targeted him amid their latest spending spree.
Lyon had initially been reluctant to let the 19-year-old depart, insisting that they did not want to do a deal or see him leave before the end of the season.
They eventually relented, accepting a €30m offer from Chelsea that saw the player remain with the French side until the end of the season on loan.
That’s a deal that suits all parties, with Lyon keeping a key player and not being weakened at the end of the transfer window and Malo continuing as a regular to aid his development ahead of moving to Chelsea in the summer.
Aulas has now commented on the deal, admitting he couldn’t turn it down given the nature of the proposal the Blues offered the youngster.
“When a player is approached by one of the best clubs in Europe at the age of 19 and is offered a situation that the family, the agent and the player couldn’t refuse, you have to find the conditions that will allow you to profit from the transfer and to keep him. Congratulations to Vincent Ponsot,” Foot Mercato report him saying at a press conference today.
