According to reports, Ernest Nuamah ‘vanished’ after ‘completing the first part of his medical’ at Fulham due to his desire to stay at Lyon.
Nuamah joined the French club from RWD Molenbeek in Belgium on loan last August before joining permanently for around £24million in July.
Lyon were actively looking to offload the 20-year-old Ghanaian and a deadline day move to Fulham was on the cards.
The Cottagers reportedly agreed to pay £16m for the young forward, who was desperate to stay at Lyon.
He was so desperate, in fact, that he disappeared when a permanent transfer to Craven Cottage was close to being completed.
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Joining Fulham had player ‘in tears’ before ‘vanishing’ to ensure transfer ‘collapse’
According to reports in France (via the Daily Mail), the prospect of playing for Fulham had Nuamah ‘in tears’ as he went AWOL to ensure he stayed at Lyon.
After completing the signings of Ryan Sessegnon, Emile Smith Rowe, Jorge Cuenca, Sander Berge and Joachim Andersen, head coach Marco Silva was eager to further improve by signing Nuamah.
The player had other ideas. The report states that the player ‘supposedly broke down into tears during the medical and fleeing’.
Lyon were ‘pushing him out the door’, which led to an emotional Nuamah ensuring the transfer ‘collapsed’.
The 20-year-old was in London to complete his Fulham medical but ‘was in tears throughout the day’.
He did ‘complete the first part of his medical’ but then ‘fled and vanished, failing to turn up for the final stages’.
It was a solid disappearing act from the player as even his agent was unable to locate him.
Lyon owner John Texter was forced to ‘send a letter of apology’ to Fulham over the debacle.
Nuamah was also linked with Everton in the summer transfer window after scoring seven goals in 39 matches last term.
Fulham have started the Premier League season with one win, one draw and one defeat.
Their most recent result was a 1-1 draw away to Ipswich Town, a result which gave Kieran McKenna plenty of hope.
The Ipswich head coach said after the match: “Especially in the Liverpool game, the players came away with more confidence from it.
“And today we built on what we did against Liverpool. Our pressure was good and aggressive again.
“I think the players have come away from the first three games with more belief to be honest.
“It was a good solid performance from us which showed the growth in the team. We were competitive and had the better of the second half and were the more likely team to win against an established Premier League team.
“To produce a performance as well-organised, coordinated and with good spirit and qualities, it was a positive sign.”
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