OL, Wolfsburg: Amin Sarr is missing

The legacy of Bruno Cheyrou. A little over a year ago, the former head of the Olympique Lyonnais recruitment unit proudly marked the arrival of Amin Sarr, a Heerenveen striker little known to the general public. But beyond his recruitment, what surprised everyone was the price at which Les Gones bought the Swede. Indeed, the residents of Groupama Stadium broke their piggy bank to put €11 million on the table. An amount “to which may be added a maximum of €1 million in bonuses as well as additional 10% profit-sharing on any future capital gains”. Which is huge. Moreover, in the Netherlands, people quickly rubbed their hands, and even laughed, when they discovered the price at which it had been sold in Lyon.

Six difficult months in Lyon

Despite everything, the player had to be given a chance. In 15 appearances in all competitions, the Malmö-trained footballer started 7 times. Time for him to score 1 goal and deliver 1 assist. Beyond the statistics, Amin Sarr did not show much, he who was often ghostly and who had difficulty finding his place on the field. In the locker room, the adaptation was not easy either, he who interacted with few teammates in the end according to our information. Bruno Cheyrou tried to save soldier Sarr by publicly supporting him while he was facing numerous criticisms from the press and supporters.

“Amin is a good guy. He arrived during the season. Obviously, he needs time to adapt as he comes from abroad. He doesn’t speak much French. So it happens to all players. But he’s a very good player in training, even in matches, he does very good things.”, had released the former Lyon leader. Qualities that we didn’t really have the opportunity to see when he was on the pitch. After two appearances at the start of the 2023-24 season against Montpellier (22 minutes) and Nice (70 minutes), he left OL to join Wolfsburg on loan. And once again, Amin Sarr’s price has been the talk of the town.

He no longer plays at Wolfsburg

In fact, OL announced that “this loan accompanied by a bonus of 1M€ comes with a purchase option set at 13M€, to which could be added incentives amounting to 500K€ as well as a 10% profit-sharing on the added value of a possible future transfer.” Which would have allowed Les Gones to make a little added value with a very disappointing player. But this will not a priori be the case. Present in Germany since August 31, the 22-year-old cannot really say that happiness is in the loan. Restricted to a replacement role since Jonas Wind is in good shape, he was content with crumbs, having appeared on 5 occasions. In total, he has played 98 minutes this season. Because since his last appearance on October 21 against Bayer Leverkusen (45 minutes played), Amin Sarr has not played a single match with Wolfsburg.

Despite everything, he tried to stay positive. “I am young, I need time to develop”, he explained. But the Bundesliga team had seen enough and tried to break his loan this winter. Which was not possible, since OL did not intend to repatriate him. The solution could have come from another club which could have welcomed him. Problem: the striker could not play for another club since he had already played for two teams this season, namely Lyon and Wolfsburg. Amin Sarr therefore remained in Germany, where he has not played for more than three months now. It should be noted that he missed 6 games between December and January due to a knee problem. But with or without injury, he no longer played anyway. All this had no impact since Wolfsburg wanted to get rid of it well before.

Its future already raises questions

And the situation should therefore not change for the attacker linked to Lyon until June 2027, who is even sidelined during matches (coach’s choice, editor’s note). Contacted by us, David Hamza, journalist for Football Transferstold us about it: “He left Lyon on loan because he didn’t play much. But in Wolfsburg, it’s even worse. He only played the first five matches and still only a few minutes. He didn’t make a good impression and had no impact. In the last three games he wasn’t even in the squad and the competition has become even bigger with the signing this winter of Kevin Behrens. In addition, Jonas Wind is also doing very well since he scored 10 goals. Which is not Amin Sarr’s business. Moreover, his future will not be written on the side of Wolfsburg, where we do not intend to exercise his purchase option, we have been informed.

David Hamza also agrees. “For now I think he has no future here and the buy option won’t be activated unless he suddenly improves a lot and/or gets another chance . There could be a new coach as Niko Kovac could be sacked if Wolfsburg loses more matches. But that’s not the trend right now.” On the Lyon side, we are monitoring the situation of the player, who will have to be able to find a place elsewhere this summer. But this does not worry the club any more for the moment, we were informed. Some sources close to the player told us about a possible return to the Netherlands this summer. In any case, for OL, they will still have to settle their case and limit the damage with a player purchased at a high price. A poisoned gift left by Bruno Cheyrou to David Friio and his teams.