Lyon reveal Moussa Dembele transfer 'regret' as bumper Celtic fee has bigwig feeling blue

Lyon director of football Vincent Ponsot says the £20 million sent to Celtic for Moussa Dembele is a source of regret as he prepares to walk out for nothing.

The striker's contract at the Ligue 1 club is up in the summer and it looks likely that he will become a free agent in the upcoming summer transfer window. After two fruitful years in the Premiership, the French forward had big bucks spent on him but that has been a costly financial move for Lyon, who are not going to see any of that back in a transfer fee. Celtic also will miss out on collecting a 15 per cent sell-on from any potential sale.

He's been linked with making moves back across Europe throughout his spell back in France, with clubs linked including Barcelona, Juventus, Manchester United and Arsenal, but that eventually ended up being a loan move to Atletico Madrid two years ago where Dembele failed to score. Ponsot admitted they handled his contract situation wrong and accepted the 26-year-old has been an expensive mistake after scoring only three goals this season. He said: "It's not a nice situation for us to know that he will leave for nothing at the end of the season.

"We spent 22 million Euros on him and it's been a big regret. More and more players are doing this now with regards to their contract and of course, that is their right."

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