Lyon sign Ekambi permanently from Villarreal

by Staff Reporter

Wednesday Jun 03, 2020. 09:00

Cameroon international Karl Toko Ekambi has signed a permanent deal with French giants Olympique Lyonnais.

The 27-year-old striker has been on loan from Spanish side Villarreal and he has now signed a new four-year deal which will take him through until 2024.

A club statement read: “This exercise of the purchase option follows the temporary transfer that took place in January 2020.”

“It amounts to €11.5 million to which can be added a maximum of €4 million of incentives as well as a profit-sharing of 15 % on the capital gain of a possible future transfer (50% if the transfer takes place before 15/09/20).”

“The final arrival of Karl Toko Ekambi confirms the ambition of Olympique Lyonnais to give itself the means to be at the highest level next season.”

Toko Ekambi has made 12 competitive appearances for Lyon this season and netted twice in the process.

Lyon manager Rudi Garcia explained why the club signed Toko Ekambi on a permanent deal.

“We still have to build the team. We corrected the situation during the winter window, bringing in Bruno Guimaraes and Toko-Ekambi,” Garcia told the club website.

“Here at the club, we’re all in agreement that we want to keep Karl. I don’t know how the summer will go. It will be an unusual transfer window.

“We’ve got a good squad, so we’ll be able to respond well next season. We’ll have a great season. I’m very ambitious for OL and we’re going to work to achieve our goals,” he added.

“The players have contracts and they feel good here at OL. I’m not worried that there will be an exodus of players.”