Sergi Darder played 75 games for Olympique Lyonnais between 2015 and 2017, before being loaned and then sold to Espanyol Barcelona. Arrived from the Malaga club, plagued by very serious financial worries at the time, the Spanish midfielder returned to his arrival at OL to ESPN :“I had several options, but it was the club that ‘bet’ the most on me (Lyon). And the fact is that Malaga was in a crisis and they had sold part of my rights to an investment fund without my knowing it helped. The investment fund could more or less decide my (transfer) price. Porto came to get me, it had been accepted by the club and the fund said no.
The player was then owned by both his club and an investment fund. His freedom of movement was therefore compromised. “I went to Lyon on the last day of the market. My official buyout clause was €40m, but then I learned that the fund had an agreement that if a €12m offer came in and Malaga refused to sell, they could sell me. This only happened at the last minute. When you don’t know who you belong to, it’s quite difficult.”recalls the 28-year-old, who still has very good memories of his time in France: “A team from hell. I got there and, pardon the expression, I got screwed. But I learned more during these 2 years than during 10 years in Spain.
