Liverpool News: Nabil Fekir speaks about his failed move to Liverpool from Lyon, due to the reported injury concerns by the Reds.
Nabil Fekir was destined to join Liverpool last summer but in the end the deal was clamped down after the Reds decided to withdraw their interests at the last moment.
The French International was so close that he even gave his medical at Liverpool. However, it was reported that the Merseyside club withdrew due to knee injury concerns of Fekir.
The 26-year-old midfielder has finally spoken on the whole transfer scenario, as he has joined Real Betis after a season spending with Lyon post failed transfer with Liverpool. The player spoke to L’Equipe.
“Lots of lies were told and they affected me. Especially those told about my family. It hurt them and me. Especially when you know that’s what being told is false.
“What was said is not the truth. My knee is good—I had a quick medical check at Clairefontaine (France’s national training base)—my knee wasn’t even mentioned. If my knee had been in such a bad state, would Aulas (Lyon chairman Jean-Michel) have made [a huge offer to keep me]?”
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The player further expressed his grief over his family being scapegoated in the process, as to why the move was not able to be finalized.
Fekir missed entire 2015-16 season due to a knee injury surfaced four years ago. However, the player was able to recover from it, and there has not been a recurrence since then, and the player even went onto win the World Cup 2018 with his country.
“You want the truth? Even I don’t know—I promise you! I did my medical and then [Liverpool] decided not to sign me. At some point they wanted to have me believe it was because of my knee—but an excuse needed to be found.
“The medical tests that I did at Clairefontaine (the France national team’s main base) were very clear—my knee is perfectly fine and I feel fine. There are no issues at all with my knee.”
He also highlighted the impact bad influences can have and suggested his former agent, Jean-Pierre Bernes, had a hand in the deal collapsing.
Fekir, asked if he means his ex-agent Bernes:
"Maybe. But like I said, it's fate. But it's not normal to be kept informed of negotiations. My family is discreet and it's not nice to try to split a family. It was a dark moment in my career."— Jeremy Smith (@jeremysmith98) September 9, 2019
Fekir, asked for his thoughts on Bernes today:
"If you don't have anything good to say about someone, it's best to stay quiet. Otherwise I'll say things I'll regret. That's not how I was brought up. He knows where he stands. We have no contact today and I don't want any."— Jeremy Smith (@jeremysmith98) September 9, 2019
The player later went onto remain at Lyon and later joined Real Betis this summer at less than half of price- £22 million what Lyon demanded from Liverpool last summer.
Meanwhile, Jurgen Klopp thought of Fekir as the potential replacement of Philippe Coutinho, but in the end Liverpool ended up signing Alisson Becker and Fabinho and sacrificed Fekir to fill in other gaps in the squad, and in the end it rewarded them as they ended up winning the Champions League.
