Rangers have been boosted by the news that a total of five players have been ruled out of the Lyon squad ahead of their Europa League clash at Ibrox.
The Gers are set to welcome the Ligue 1 club to Glasgow in what promises to be an electrifying night in Govan against an expensively assembled Les Gones side.
However, the French outfit are set to be without five key first team players including their captain, Leo Dubois.
French international Dubois joins ex-Celtic striker Moussa Dembele, former Arsenal youth winger Jeff Reine-Adélaïde, Brazilian midfielder Thiago Mendes and Zimbabwean striker Tino Kadewere on the sidelines.
In total, this is about £76.5m worth of talent and it gives a small insight into the depth of quality and investment that has been made into the Lyon team.
Dubois joined Lyon on a free from Nantes in 2014 and has gone on to cement himself as a permanent fixture of the side but is the only of the five who didn’t command a fee.
Moussa Dembele left Celtic for Lyon in a deal worth close to £20m in 2018 [BBC] whilst Jeff Reine-Adélaïde’s transfer from Angers could reach around £23.5m [OL].
Thiago Mendes joined in a deal worth around £21m from Lille in 2019 [beIN Sports] and Tino Kadewere signed from Le Havre last season in a reported £12m deal [BBC].
This is a fraction of the cost of assembling the Rangers squad and these are the players who aren’t even going to be involved.
Whilst these substantial transfer fees have been supplemented by player sales in recent seasons, this barely scratches the surface of the money spent on fees and wages in this Lyon team.
Lucas Paqueta and Bruno Guimaraes cost €40m (£34m) between them, backup striker Karl Toko Ekambi cost a cool £10m and that’s before we talk about the wages spent to sign the likes of Xherdan Shaqiri, Jerome Boateng and Chelsea full-back Emerson.
Captain Leo Dubois and Moussa Dembele aside, there’s also no guarantee any of the players who’re out would’ve played.
This is without a doubt the most expensively assembled team faced by Steven Gerrard and co so far on their European adventures and it promises to be an enthralling encounter at Ibrox.
That’s even without the £76.5m worth of talent who won’t be travelling to face Rangers – or their captain.
Rangers fans however have had plenty to say about Moussa Dembele’s absence and are convinced the player isn’t so brave now he’s playing a stronger Ibrox side.