Toko Ekambi sold to Lyon

Karl Toko Ekambi has put his Villarreal career definitively behind him, signing a four-year deal with Olympique Lyonnais. According to reports Villarreal received €4m for his loan, will receive another €11.5m from his sale, plus another €4m in variables if they are met, and would get 15% of a future sale.

10 goals in 34 matches last season, 6 in 18 league appearances this one, were decent totals, but something happened between October 2019, when Ekambi was named the Player of the Month in La Liga, and January 2020, when Villarreal loaned him to Lyon with the expectation the move would be made permanent.

Too bad, his speed gave us something up front for sure, but if he meets whatever those incentives are we basically will recoup our money (we bought him for €18m, and I assume paid his salary in the Jan-Jul 2020 period, given the size of the loan fee).

I will miss him; I was excited when he joined us from Angers. His finishing skills were inconsistent, to be sure, but I will miss his gloding speed and his surprisingly accurate passes in the final third to round off a break.

So, money in our transfer kitty....will we spend it?