While OL will still be able to count on its top scorer Alexandre Lacazette this season, the club is anticipating the end of its captain’s contract (33 years old) in a year and is looking for an international-level striker. With this in mind, but also to strengthen their starting eleven for this season, the Lyon leaders have been in contact for several weeks with Georges Mikautadze (23 years old), born in Lyon and who went through the Academy, and have done a fairly colossal job to convince him despite the presence in his position of Lacazette, who decided to say no to the golden bridge of Saudi Arabia.
In constant contact with the sporting director David Friio and the Eagle football director Michael Gerlinger, the Georgian international, author of a very good Euro in Germany (3 goals and an assist in 4 matches), did not take long to reach an agreement with his favorite club on a 5-year contract, at a salary slightly higher than what he received at Ajax Amsterdam.
OL are counting on him to start the season
Lyon will now negotiate with Metz, who exercised the option to buy the striker from the Dutch club this summer (€13 million). The Lorraine side have already accepted €20 million (+ €5 million bonus) from Monaco last week, but Mikautadze did not want to give his agreement to the Principality club.
Lyon are probably counting on the player’s willingness to join them to lower this price. The outcome seems quite close, however, since OL hope to be able to rely on the Georgian striker, currently on vacation, from the start of the Ligue 1 season. Lacazette will indeed be unavailable in August, following having participated in the Olympic Games with the French team.
