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By Ray Munyoro
Spanish giants Atletico Madrid have completed the signing of Moussa Dembele from Lyon on a loan deal with an option to buy.
Dembele has struggled to get into Rudi Garcia’s team this season since the arrival of Zimbabwean forward Tino Kadewere from Le Havre.
Kadewere has formed a deadly partnership with Memphis Depay and Karl Toko Ekambi.
Kadewere, Depay and Ekambi have been impressive this season and are statistically the most dangerous attacking trio in any of Europe’s top five leagues.
This might have left Dembele frustrated as he struggled for game time and decided to leave.
And in the talk of transfer rumours, Lyon sporting director Juninho admitted that Dembele’s motivation levels have dropped in recent months.
“Moussa thinks that this is the moment to change teams, that he has lost a bit of motivation.
“This was not something we foresaw, I like him a lot. I think that Moussa has found an agreement with Atletico,” Juninho told Telefoot.
The clubs have worked out a deal to bring Dembele to Spain on loan with an option to buy for €33.5 million (£30m/$41m) with a potential €5 million (£4.5m/$6m) in bonuses.
Atletico Madrid will pay a €1.5m loan fee as part of the deal as well.
Dembele has spent the last two-and-a-half years with Lyon, having originally signed from Celtic for €22 million (£20m/$27m) in the summer of 2018.
The French forward has scored 45 goals in 108 appearances for the Ligue 1 side during that period, and helped the French club to the Champions League semi-finals in 2019-20.
Dembele has scored just once in 16 appearances this campaign, having hit the 20-goal mark in each of his first two seasons with Lyon.
He is being replaced by Algerian forward Islam Slimani who is arriving from Leicester.
Slimani heads to France following a trio of loan spells away from Leicester, having played for Newcastle, Fenerbahce and Monaco in recent seasons.
The Algerian, who has appeared just once for Leicester this season, scored nine goals in 19 appearances for Monaco in 2019-20. Nhau/Indaba
