Mariano presented at Lyon, leaves Real Madrid for €8 million
Real Madrid hold a buy-back option on the canterano, who signed with the French Ligue 1 side and will battle with Lacazette and Fekir for playing minutes.
Olympique Lyon surprised everyone on Friday afternoon when they announced on their twitter account that a press conference would take place at 17:00 with the president of the club, Jean-Michael Aulas and manager, Bruno Genesio in order to introduce a new player. They did not go as far, however, to reveal the name of the player in the tweet.
Announce Mariano
All signs pointed in the direction of Madrid as the source of their latest signing with Mariano linked with a move. As it turns out, this was the case as he becomes Real Madrid's first summer departure with Coentrao to Sporting yet to be made official and Pepe, who still has a contract until midnight on June 30th.
Mariano only played 302 official minutes last season. He took advantage of them though and scored five goals, which was enough to see him hit the net once every 60.4 minutes, along with two assists.
His departure leaves Real Madrid €8 million richer and the club also have a buy-back option. The Spanish striker of Dominican descent will battle for minutes with Alexandre Lacazette and Nabil Fekir although the 23-year-old's arrival could see the end of Lacazette in Lyon's colours. Atletico Madrid remain interested in the French striker's signature with Arsenal also mentioned as an option.
