Fulham had everything in place to sign winger Ernest Nuamah from French side Lyon… right up until he collapsed the deal by unhelpfully going missing.
The Cottagers perhaps should have been wary about the prospects of the deal when the 20-year-old broke down in tears during his medical, according to a report from French outlet L’Equipe. They pressed on regardless but, such was his pain at the thought of finalising the Craven Cottage switch, he disappeared at the critical moment, with even his agent unable to locate him to complete the paperwork.
Nuamah had no desire to leave his current Lyon base. Luckily for him, his vanishing act meant the deadline passed without confirming the transfer, meaning he will remain at the Groupama Stadium until at least January.
As getting to the point of conducting a medical suggests, all the other parties involved had reached a satisfactory agreement; the west London club would pay around €19million for his services.
But it appears nobody had checked on what the man at the centre of the deal thought. The tearful Nuamah fleeing from the final formalities suggests he wasn’t quite on board.
It forced Lyon owner John Textor – who is also involved at Crystal Palace and has been linked with Everton, another club Nuamah was linked with – to send an apology letter to Fulham for the manner in which the deal broke down. The winger’s agent later revealed that his player’s love for Lyon was the driver behind him abandoning the deal, one which he had been opposed to throughout.
Players taking their future into their own hands like this can often lead to them being ‘frozen out’ of first-team activities, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here, with Textor reportedly assuring Nuamah of his place at the club.
He has already featured in two of Lyon’s three Ligue 1 games this summer before being left out of the third as his transfer saga unfolded. The Ghana international spent last year on loan at Lyon from Belgian side RWD Molenbeek before making that deal permanent this summer, the two clubs sharing common ownership in Textor.
Last term he appeared 33 times in all competitions for Lyon, scoring 3 goals and providing two assists.
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