Born in Cork in 2001, Jake O’Brien is a centre-back who represents the Republic of Ireland national team at Under-21 level and currently plies his trade at Olympique Lyonnais in Ligue 1 in France. He is notable for being one of the first players to have his career trajectory significantly shaped by American businessman John […]
Tag: Defender
Dejan Lovren – Player Profile
Croatian centre-back Dejan Lovren is one of four players in the current Lyon squad to have recently returned to the club for a second spell. (The other three being Alexandre Lacazette, Corentin Tolisso and Rémy Riou). Lovren re-joined Lyon in January 2023 for a fee of €2 million from Zenit St Petersburg, having previously worn the […]
Saël Kumbedi – Player Profile
When Lyon signed the seventeen year old prospect Saël Kumbedi from Le Havre for €1 million in the summer of 2022, he was very much seen as one for the future. At the time, he only had 219 minutes of first team action in Ligue 2 to his name. However, the young right-back made such […]
Clinton Mata – Player Profile
Olympique Lyonnais signed the thirty-year-old Angolan defender Clinton Mata from Club Brugge for €5 million in the summer of 2023. It was a first move abroad for the right-back, who had been born and raised in Belgium and had spent the entirety of his career thus far playing in the Belgian league system. Mata will […]
Nicolás Tagliafico – Player Profile
In December 2022, Nicolás Tagliafico became only the second Olympique Lyonnais player to win the FIFA World Cup whilst at the club, following in the footsteps of Nabil Fekir in 2018. The Argentina left-back was an integral part of his country’s World Cup winning campaign in Qatar, featuring in all but one of their matches, […]
Croatian international Duje Caleta-Car signs for Lyon
Olympique Lyonnais have completed the signing of Croatian international defender Duje Caleta-Car on a season-long loan for a fee of €1.54 million. The centre-back joins from Southampton as they look to reduce their wage bill following their relegation from the English Premier League at the end of last season. The twenty-six year old links up […]
Castello Lukeba
Castello Lukeba was the revelation of the 2021-22 season for Olympique Lyonnais. His sudden emergence from the academy was a rare bright spot in an otherwise underwhelming campaign for the club. He began the season as an unknown eighteen year old without a single first team appearance to his name, but impressed in pre-season friendlies […]
Malo Gusto
Malo Gusto is an energetic right-back who came through the youth team ranks at Lyon’s academy and broke into the first team squad in early 2021, aged just seventeen. His debut came as a late substitute in an emphatic 5-0 derby win away at arch-rivals Saint-Etienne under manager Rudi Garcia. He was to make one […]
Henrique Silva Milagres
Henrique is a Brazilian left-back, who signed for Olympique Lyonnais in summer 2021, aged 27. He arrived on a free transfer from Vasco da Gama, in his native Rio de Janeiro, with whom he had spent his entire career since joining them as a schoolboy. He signed a three year contract with Lyon, tying him […]
Djamel Benlamri
Algerian international centre-back Djamel Benlamri joined Olympique Lyonnais at the end of the summer 2020 transfer window as a free agent, having bought out the final nine months of his contract with Al-Shabab in Saudi Arabia. He was recruited primarily to provide cover for first choice central defensive partnership Jason Denayer and Marcelo, after Joachim […]