Former Lyon and France star Sidney Govou has questioned the decision to let ‘warrior’ Maxwel Cornet move to the Premier League with Burnley, writing on his official Twitter page.
As soon as the deal was made official, we’d like to think Pep Guardiola picked up a pen and circled October 16 on his calendar.
Cornet has given his Manchester City side nightmares in the past and it is not hard to imagine Guardiola scratching his bloodshot eyes at 4am, racking his planet-sized brain trying to come up with ways to stop the jet-heeled Ivorian.
Cornet, after all, has only ever scored six Champions League goals.
Four of those came against City, including a fine solo effort as Lyon knocked Guardiola’s star-studded side out of the competition in the quarter-finals last summer.
Can Maxwel Cornet bloody the noses of the big boys at Burnley?
The versatile wideman might not have been the most technically-gifted member of a talented yet underachieving Lyon side, but his tendency to step up on the biggest of occasions will be missed, in particular, by a man who knows what it takes to win in that iconic white shirt.
“The fans are FIFA players!” said the seven-time Ligue 1 champion, questioning the wisdom of those who dared to downplay Cornets importance to Les Gones’ cause.
“Max was and is what will be missing in Lyon: a warrior with whom you can win!”
Burnley eventually snapped up Cornet on a five-year deal for a fee just shy of £13 million; the former France U21 international joining Conor Roberts and centre-half Nathan Collins at Turf Moor (Sky Sports).
Despite playing as an overlapping left-back for most of last season, we’d imagine that Cornet will be handed a more attack-minded role under Sean Dyche, perhaps allowing talisman Dwight McNeil to pull the strings through the middle.
Cornet was also heavily linked with a move to Leeds United before Marcelo Bielsa’s Yorkshire giants snapped up Barcelona’s Junior Firpo instead.
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