Laurent Blanc implies Chelsea and Lyon disagreed over handling of Malo Gusto’s injury

Les Gones head coach Laurent Blanc has implied that Chelsea’s medical staff disagreed with Lyon over the handling of Malo Gusto’s (19) injury. In January, Lyon and the Blues struck an agreement over a €40m move for the promising right-back. However, a loan back was included in the move, allowing Lyon to keep Gusto until the end of the season.

Laurent Blanc’s side are yet to really benefit from the loan as much as they would have wanted with the Lyon youth product sustaining a hip strain back in February. For his first game in two months with his formative club, the 19-year-old scored a game-deciding own goal for Marseille on Sunday.

Speaking on Wednesday during Lyon’s pre-match press conference, Gusto said his London stay ended up being longer than anticipated because the injury he sustained was more severe than previously thought. The right-back went on to say that both Lyon and Chelsea exchanged regularly on the matter. Gusto revealed that he had appreciated that some members of the Lyon staff went in London to check up on him. However, Lyon head coach Blanc implied in the same press conference, attended by RMC Sport, that it was not plain sailing between the two clubs over the handling of Gusto’s fitness. “When two medical departments take care of a player and they are both in agreement, it works. But if they disagree, how do we proceed? There. It’s a peculiar case.“

Barring any injury or suspension, Gusto has another six Ligue 1 games left to play with Lyon before returning to the West London side. Lyon will travel to relegation-battling Strasbourg on Friday for the opening fixture of gameweek 33.

GFFN | Bastien Cheval