Lyon sold Xherdan Shaqiri to Chicago Fire this week – only five months since buying him from Liverpool. The French side even made a profit.
Liverpool supposedly have Xherdan Shaqiri on the transfer list for some time but it took until the end of October before they found a buyer. Lyon eventually agreed a fee, paying £5m to sign him with another £4m possible in bonuses.
But Shaqiri has not enjoyed a good go of things in France. He’s only started nine Ligue 1 games, with another two off the bench, scoring twice and assisting three more. It’s not a bad record, of course, and Shaqiri did put in a fantastic display to kick-off this month.
He scored and assisted in a massive game against Marseille as Lyon won 2-1. That’s a sign of his quality but at the same time, it means his record before the fixture was eight starts, one goal, two assists. Lyon, clearly, don’t think it’s good enough.
And so they’ve sold him on, just five months since his arrival.
Lyon sell former Liverpool man Xherdan Shaqiri
Shaqiri is off to America where he joins Chicago Fire FC. Lyon announced the transfer fee, too – just under £6m.
That means the French side make a small profit on Shaqiri, given he can’t possibly have triggered those bonuses. The amount only comes to around £800k but it’s still something – and suggested Liverpool possibly could have gotten more in the summer.
Though, that’s debatable. We don’t doubt that MLS teams were willing to pay this kind of money in 2021. We do doubt that Shaqiri was ready to make the jump outside of a European league, meaning Liverpool may not have had a genuine chance at bigger money.
Instead, Shaqiri’s struggles in France likely convinced him to take that step down from the elite level. It’s a shame, of course – we’d like to see him do well – but perhaps a starring role in MLS is what he needs right now.
Still, it’s a fall from grace for a player who had Jurgen Klopp calling him ‘brilliant’ just a couple of seasons ago.
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