It's only natural that Lyon fans will want Tanguy Ndombele to make his loan deal permanent come the summer after making an immediate impact following his move from Tottenham.
Tipped to return to France with Paris Saint-Germain following his Spurs struggles, a switch to the French capital didn't happen and he instead sealed a January move to former club Lyon.
Impressing off the bench in his first game back as they lost 2-0 against Monaco, Ndombele was then named in the starting XI last weekend as Nice visited the Groupama Stadium.
Wowing throughout as the Ligue 1 team recorded a 2-0 win, the midfielder registered an assist for Karl Toko Ekambi's goal and scored an eight in L'Equipe's notoriously harsh player ratings.
Coming in for plenty of praise since making the move back to his former club, Ndombele will be intent on catching the eye between now and the end of the season as he's unlikely to be in Antonio Conte's plans for 2022/23 given he was allowed to depart last month.
Lyon do have the option in their loan agreement with Spurs to make the move permanent for £54million in the summer if they so wish, although they will have to smash their current transfer record by some way having spent £22.5million to sign Jeff Reine-Adelaide from Angers.
However, Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas has hinted at what his club must do this season if they have any chance of re-signing the Tottenham man on a permanent basis.
“We have to let a few games pass by, we’re only at the start. But if we win the Europa League, anything is possible,” he explained, as reported by RMC Sport.
Topping Europa League Group A in December ahead of Rangers, Lyon are safely through to the Round of 16 and will discover their opponents once the play-off round has finished.
The likes of Barcelona, RB Leipzig, Napoli and Borussia Dortmund all feature in the play-off round, however, so Lyon will have to be at their very best if they are to go all the way and triumph in Seville in May.
As well as discussing what Lyon must do to try and sign Ndombele on a permanent basis, Aulas also spoke about what the club needed to do to strike the loan deal on transfer deadline day.
“I’m very happy that he’s back, with Bruno Cheyrou and Vincent Ponsot [directors] in charge, as we needed to negotiate with Tottenham who bought him for a lot," he added.
"He played a part in his return by investing in it personally.”
Ndombele and Lyon will discover their Round of 16 opponents when the draw is made on Friday, February 25.
