Milan fury at Fofana failure of Lyon €12m deal, hope for Besiktas

Milan are furious with Olympique Lyonnais, because the Youssouf Fofana move failed due to trouble selling Malick Fofana to the Premier League, so now Besiktas are back in the running.

In an extraordinary twist, the Rossoneri thought that they had sealed the departure of Youssouf Fofana to Olympique Lyonnais.

The player had already signed the contract, making the move on loan for €2m with an option to buy at the end of the season for another €12m.

However, Lyon could not register the new player until they had first managed to sell Malick Fofana.

Youssouf Fofana stuck at Milan

That situation dragged on all day, with Sunderland and Crystal Palace constantly battling to one-up each other on personal terms and fee, leaving the player waiting to see which plane he would board.

The deadline to buy new players in Ligue 1 was 19.00 UK time (20.00 CEST) and that has now passed with no registration for Youssouf Fofana.

Lyon can still sell Malick Fofana, as the Premier League transfer deadline isn’t until midnight, but are not in a position to sign a replacement.

That means Milan are stuck with the midfielder, but they do still have hope, as the Turkish transfer market remains open for another four days.

Besiktas had been determined to get the France international anyway before he preferred Lyon, so are more than ready to get back into the race.

Galatasaray and Fenerbahce had also shown an interest.

Milan have also so far failed to find new clubs for Warren Bondo and Fikayo Tomori, with the latter’s negotiations for Fulham falling apart.