Lyon and Lille, it's a sibling story - that of the Seydoux family. In Lyon, Jérôme, the eldest and owner of the Pathés, became a major shareholder alongside Jean-Michel Aulas.
In Lille, the younger Michel was a minority shareholder in 2000, but became a majority shareholder in 2004 after the departure of Luc Dayan. The bridge between the two clubs was built naturally, often to the advantage of LOSC.
At the time, Olympique Lyonnais was the rising club in France and their progression curve was consistent year after year: 11th in 1996, 8th in 1997, 6th in 1998, 3rd in 1999 and 2000, 2nd in 2001. With the arrival of Pathé in 1999, the financial means increased for Les Gones: Sonny Anderson and Tony Vairelles arrived in 1999, Steve Marlet followed in 2000.
At the same time, LOSC, who returned to the top flight in 2000, created a surprise by finishing 3rd in 2001 and 5th in 2002, the same year that Lyon began their seven-year winning streak in Ligue 1.
Abidal, a total success
The first player to make the trip from Lille to Lyon is certainly the most striking and the most successful. Éric Abidal, a native of the city of Gaules, arrived in the North from Monaco thanks to Claude Puel. Although he did not make his mark on the Rock, the left-footed player found the environment necessary for his blossoming at the highest level. 62 matches in the league, 62 starts: on the left side of the defence, Abidal is unanimously appreciated.
His last match with Les Dogues was a defeat against his future club, who had put €8.5 million on the table. At 25, he changed position. Paul Le Guen, also a former left-back, preferred to play him at full-back instead of centre back. His first match in his new role? Against Lille, of course. The adventure lasted three years, before Barcelona signed him for €15m. Hard to imagine a better transfer.
2007-2008: three arrivals, three losses
The 2007 pre-season marked the return of business between the two clubs. Despite an average season that ended in a 10th place finish, Lille's squad remained strong. Jean-Michel Aulas and Bernard Lacombe set their sights on Mathieu Bodmer and Kader Keita. The former for €6.8m and the latter for €16.8m.
In four years in the north of France, Bodmer became a sure thing in the league, a versatile player capable of performing in several roles in midfield, as comfortable in a defensive role as in a playmaker's role. At the time, he was even said to be close to the French national team. As for Kader Keita, his statistics are interesting, with 17 goals and 17 assists in 84 matches in all competitions.
The Ivorian, who was mainly used as a right-sided attacking midfielder, was in demand and Lyon's directors were infatuated. The result was a disaster, with 7 goals and 7 assists in 72 matches, but above all, nothing in Ligue 1 in 2008/09 in 22 matches played. Bodmer was no more successful: barely 91 matches and above all, a repositioning in the centre of the defence initiated by Alain Perrin three months after his arrival at Gerland. Both players were sold for far less than their purchase price: €7.5m to Galatasaray for Keita in 2009, and €2.5m to PSG for Bodmer.
These two failures did not deter OL and the club continued to pick up players in the north. Lille's Jean II Makoun became a key member of his team, but the Dogues were no longer able to qualify for Europe. Despite LOSC's 7th place finish, Lyon once again broke the bank to strengthen their midfield - €14m. With 210 appearances in all competitions, the Cameroonian offered guarantees.
His first season was a success, with 46 games played, including 10 goals and 4 assists. But he played 42 games the following season, and was less decisive (2 goals, 3 assists). The problem for OL was that the series of 7 French league titles ended, with Bordeaux and then Marseille winning. In the winter window of 2011, he was given a release and joined Aston Villa for just €6.2m, less than half his purchase price.
2009: Bastos and the crossed trajectories
In 2009, the decade came to an end with a last piece of movement between Lille and Lyon. Anxious to regain their throne, vexed by having finished only 3rd in the championship, OL wanted to strike a blow.
Michel Bastos arrived in Lille in 2006 from Athletico Paranaense for €3m and in three years became a real force. His 2008/09 season was enormous: 14 goals and 13 assists in 37 Ligue 1 matches. With his explosion, LOSC finished 5th and returned to Europe.
So Les Gones got out the chequebook and paid the price: 18M€. From a purely statistical point of view, the Brazilian's time in the league was nothing to sneeze at, with 35 goals and 23 assists in 142 matches in all competitions.
But Bastos never reached the heights of his final season at Lille, despite scoring 10 goals in 2009/10 (but only one assist) and not doing too badly in 2010/11 (5 goals, 5 assists) and 2011-2012 (6 goals, 8 assists). Like Keita before him, he got to leave in the winter window in 2013. Between a loan to Schalke 04 and a transfer to Al-Ain, Lyon recovered barely 5M€.
In a way, this series of transfers marked the gradual decline of OL, amplified by the arrival of Yoann Gourcuff, whose contract plagued their accounts for years. The club, ultra-dominant in France and an outsider in the Champions League, probably did not target the best possible recruits to pursue their project.
In 2011, certainly with some of the money obtained each summer, Lille became French champions. Since then, both Jérôme at Lyon and Michel at Lille have withdrawn their shares. And even if it took another 10 years for the Dogues to regain first place in Ligue 1, Lyon never managed to become successful again.
