Toko Ekambi Set For Lyon Loan Extension

Karl Toko Ekambi’s loan deal with French Ligue 1 side Lyon ends in June 30 and it will likely be extended due to the shutdown caused by coronavirus pandemic.

Ekambi’s parent club, Spanish La Liga side Villarreal expected him to return after his loan stay at Les Gones finishes.

Ekambi joined Rudi Garcia’s squad for the remainder of the 2019-20 campaign in January, coming in as a reinforcement for the Kids who lost Memphis Depay to a serious knee injury in December.

Lyon have the option to buy the Cameroon international on a permanent deal once his loan expires.

French portal Afrique Sport states that negotiations between Lyon and Villarreal over Ekambi are set to begin soon as the Les Gones are willing to meet the set €20m obligation on loan deal to buy.

But there’s no doubting Ekambi has made an excellent impression to Lyon since joining in the last moments of the January transfer window.

In the 8 appearances that he made before the league suspension, Ekambi netted three times enabling Lyon to climb back into a near Europa Cup qualification.

The Indomitable Lions forward previously played in France for Angers, Paris FC and Sochaux where he won the Marc-Vivien Foe prize before switching to Spain to team up with Villarreal in 2018.

During his one-and-a-half-year stint at Ligue 1,Toko Ekambi scored 16 goals in 35 appearances across two seasons.

His contract at Villarreal will expire at the end of June 2023, but it still looks increasingly unlikely that he will return to play under Javier Calleja.

Therefore decisions over where Ekambi plays next season will need to be made before June, but the suspension of elite football in France and Spain has changed the picture.