French Ligue 1 champions Olympique Lyon have expressed understandable pleasure at the prospect of acquiring the services of Franck Ribery, following reports in the French media that the 23-year-old has decided to pledge his future to the club.

Ribery, who for his current team Olympique Marseille, was possibly the best player in Ligue 1 last season and has just won his first caps for France, has been at the centre of a storm of speculation concerning his future. According to French daily Le Parisien, Ribery has reached a decision, and that is Lyon.

In a statement the club said: "Olympique Lyon welcome the information given by Le Parisien saying Franck Ribery has decided to come to Lyon. This information does not come from Lyon. However, if it were confirmed, it would be great news for Lyon, the France team and French football because it would mean one of the great hopes of French football, who has been targeted by several big European clubs, stays in Ligue 1.”

In the statement Lyon said that Ribery was still under contract with Marseille and they would have the final decision.

"We would like to remind that Olympique Marseille chairman Pape Diouf, who knows everything about transfers for having been a players' agent, said recently that it was difficult to make a player stay if he really wanted to leave," the Lyon statement read.

Bookmark/Search this post with:

delicious | digg | google | yahoo | technorati