Official: M.Barošas moves to "Lyon" [updated]

2007-01-22 17:14 © EuroFootball.com

The most powerful French club in recent years officially completed negotiations on Monday and acquired Birmingham's representative striker Milan Baroš.

As part of the deal, Lyon's tall striker John Carew moves to Aston Villa, having passed a medical examination in Birmingham on Monday and signed a three-and-a-half-year contract.

25-year-old M. Baroš, who worked with current Lyon strategist Gerard Houllier at Liverpool a few years ago, did not show good athletic form this season and scored only 1 goal in 17 Premier League matches in England.

However, the French, not hiding their desire to bring in a new striker during the winter transfer window due to frequent injuries to players in this position, chose the Czech - the most productive player of the 2004 European Championship.

It is interesting that Lyon offered one of the leaders of the Czech national team to move to Lyon as early as 2005, while he was still representing his club, but the striker rejected the opportunity.

Shortly thereafter, G. Houllier stated that he would not try to invite this player anymore, but now he has changed his mind and said, "Only fools never change their minds."

Meanwhile, J. Carew, who represented Istanbul's Besiktas before arriving in Lyon, was not satisfied with not being the main striker at Lyon and expressed a desire to leave. Werder Bremen also showed interest in his services.