Olympique Lyonnais have announced the arrival of Belgium defender Jason Denayer, 23, from Manchester City on a four-year deal worth a reported €6.5m.
After being in the hunt for a central defender for some time, Olympique Lyonnais have announced that Belgium stopper Jason Denayer has signed with the seven-time champions. The 23-year-old left Manchester City for a four-year deal at the Groupama Stadium.
Versatility
"Jason is a player whom we have been following for three seasons now," explained Florian Maurice, OL's director of recruitment. "He has all the characteristics that our coach Bruno Genesio has been looking for: versatility - as he can play anywhere across the backline - intelligence, positioning, speed and power in the challenge."
After time with the Anderlecht youth team and the Jean-Marc Guillou Académie in Belgium, Denayer joined Manchester City as a 17-year-old in 2012. Although he never played a match for City's senior team, the defender cut his teeth via a series of loan deals over the last four seasons, turning out for Celtic, Galatasaray, Sunderland and then Galatasaray again. In 2017-18, he made 22 appearances in the Turkish top flight.
Eight caps with Belgium
Jason Denayer arrives in a sector of the squad that lost Mouctar Diakhaby to Velancia earlier in the summer. The new OL recruit has eight Belgium caps to his name, the last of which came at Euro 2016, when he was a starter as the Red Devils fell to Wales in the quarter-finals.
