MARSEILLE, France (AP) — Marseille gave its account Friday over goalkeeper Pau Lopez’s failed loan move to French rival Lens from Spanish club Girona.
Lens said Wednesday that the Spanish ‘keeper will not join as a replacement for Brice Samba, who left Lens to join Rennes.
The 30-year-old Lopez is currently on loan from Marseille at Girona in Spain’s La Liga. He had completed his medical with Lens earlier this week and even posed with a photo of the Lens jersey.
But the expected move quickly turned sour, and Marseille gave its version of how things unfolded in a statement.
The club began by stating that, on Tuesday afternoon, it sent Girona a request for the early termination of Lopez’s loan to Girona — which was for this season.
Marseille said Lopez then signed an agreement with him agreeing to play for Lens after passing his medical with the club. But Marseille said it did not countersign that document, because it was still waiting to receive Girona’s signed document authorizing Lopez to be released.
The move was then incorrectly announced.
“Despite the absence of a definitive commitment from all parties, the communications departments of Lens and Marseille decided, in view of their regular collaboration, to announce the arrival of the Spanish goalkeeper at Lens,” Marseille said. “This premature announcement, initiated by Lens, was done without any legal validation and was quickly invalidated by Marseille.”
Marseille said it contacted the Spanish club again on Tuesday evening and received assurances that the required documentation — regarding the early termination agreement of Lopez’s Girona loan — would be sent to Marseille later that night or by Wednesday morning.
“Finally, in the middle of the day on Wednesday, Girona informed Marseille that it was more suitable to wait until Jan 22 for the agreement to take place after the Champions League game against AC Milan,” Marseille said.
According to Marseille, the sudden decision by Girona to retain Lopez was made because the club’s third-choice goalkeeper, Lucas Garcia, was injured in training on Tuesday and so they needed Lopez as backup in Milan.
“Contacted by Marseille with a view to obtaining further information, the agent of Pau Lopez never followed up,” Marseille said. “While the general agreement remained valid but was only delayed, Lens decided to end the deal.”
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