Jerome Boateng and Xherdan Shaqiri - UEFA Champions League winners together with Bayern Munich on 2013 - could both feature when Olympique Lyonnais resume their Ligue 1 Uber Eats campaign against RC Strasbourg Alsace on Sunday.
Olympique Lyonnais - RC Strasbourg Alsace
- kick-off: 19:45 GMT
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Lyon were busy in the summer transfer window, with Boateng and Shaqiri joined by Chelsea left-back Emerson Palmieri, fellow Brazilian Henrique and another centre-back in Damien Da Silva in the arrivals lounge at the Groupama Stadium.
After dropping seven of a possible nine points in their opening three games, new coach Peter Bosz is hoping to mould his new ensemble into a functioning unit quickly - ninth place, just a point and four places above Sunday's visitors, not a look club president Jean-Michel Aulas will have been looking for ahead of the campaign.
Defensive re-shuffle
Emerson and Da Silva made up two of Lyon's back four as things finally looked like clicking into gear under in the last game before the international break, Lyon running out 1-0 winners at FC Nantes, although Da Silva was sent off at the Stade de la Beaujoire and is unavailable against Strasbourg. With Marcelo relegated to the reserves, Boateng's arrival could hardly be timelier.
Watch: Highlights of Lyon's 1-0 win at Nantes
"I take a leadership role, but I don't want to walk into the dressing room and say, 'Hey guys, here's the boss,'" Boateng explained at his unveiling earlier this week. "You can always talk to me. I consider myself a link between the coach and the team and I want to bring my experience here. And I want to pass on to the team this winning mentality that I've acquired during my career."
Boateng is likely to slot straight into central defence alongside 20-year-old Sinaly Diomandé at the Groupama Stadium, while Shaqiri, who was in the stands for the Nantes game, is pushing for Karl Toko Ekambi's spot on the left flank if not Houssem Aouar's spot at No.10 behind central striker Moussa Dembélé. Jeff Reine-Adélaïde, with a torn LCL, is Lyon's only long-term absentee.
Ajorque on form
Strasbourg haven't beaten Lyon since a 3-2 victory at the Stade de la Meinau back in May 2018, but they were even more convincing than Sunday's hosts in their final game before the international break, Ludovic Ajorque laying on two assists in a 3-2 win over Stade Brestois 29.
Bargains, loans and free transfers were the order of the day for Strasbourg before the recent transfer window slammed shut, with the likes of Frédéric Guilbert and Maxime Le Marchand arriving from England while Jean-Eudes Aholou made a crowd-pleasing return from AS Monaco. Kévin Gameiro - owner of two career goals against OL - is also an exciting arrival from Valencia.
Watch: Highlights of Strasbourg's 3-1 win over Brest
Le Racing have also been linked with Hatem Ben Arfa - a free agent following his release from Girondins de Bordeaux - but Bosz's opposite number Julien Stéphan is content whether or not they acquire the player who so thrived under him as a player at Stade Rennais FC between 2018 and 2020.
'Done the maximum'
"The club's done the maximum in the transfer market," he said. "We needed to strengthen as we were really behind some of the other clubs. Everyone at the club was well aware of this."
"We're better than last year," concurred winger Adrien Thomasson. "We only survived on the final day. There's been a change of coach [Stéphan replacing Thierry Laurey], and recruitment to aim higher and avoid being scared. Finishing between eighth and 12th shouldn't be beyond reach."
Strasbourg are without midfielder Ibrahima Sissoko due to a knee injury, but Stéphan has an otherwise fully fit - and replenished - squad to call upon against Lyon.
Possible line-ups
Lyon: Lopes; Dubois, Boateng, Diomandé, Emerson; Caqueret, Guimaraes; Paqueta, Aouar, Toko Ekambi; Dembélé
Strasbourg: Sels; Guilbert, Perrin, Djiku, Le Marchand, Liénard; Thomasson, Aholou, Bellegarde; Ajorque, Gameiro