‘He was taken hostage’ – Lens’s sporting director slams Auxerre over Lassine Sinayoko dealings | OneFootball

RC Lens’s sporting director Jean-Louis Leca has criticised AJ Auxerre after the club made a U-turn on their agreement to sell Lassine Sinayoko (25) to the northern side this summer.

Sinayoko had looked set to join Lens, with reports emerging that an agreement between all parties had been reached for an €8m transfer. After playing what was expected to be his final game for Auxerre on Saturday the 23rd of August, against OGC Nice, Sinayoko was then supposed to travel to Lens to complete his medical.

However, the Mali international never arrived for the medical, with L’Équipe reporting that Auxerre refused to give him permission to travel. The transfer would break down with Les Diplomates getting cold feet over losing a key member of their squad (albeit one with less than a year left on his contract), Lens would instead turn to Crystal Palace, signing Odsonne Édouard (27).

On RMC Sport’s radio show Rothen s’enflamme, Leca unloaded on Auxerre, telling reporters, “We did things properly. We travelled [to them], we didn’t do it over the phone. I went to eat with the sporting director and the president in Auxerre. We had a three-hour negotiation at the table.”

He added, “They threatened the player, told him that if he travelled, there would be legal action against him. The kid wanted to come, [but] he didn’t know where to go. He was taken hostage. When we saw this, I said ‘Stop!’”

Leca continued to criticise his counterparts, “We shook hands. I told them, ‘We’re men and I hope we will remain men.’ I shook hands with people who looked me in the eye and said, ‘We’re men here in Auxerre.’ Apparently, they were not men.” The clubs are set to meet in a month’s time in what may prove to be a very fiery encounter.

GFFN | Nick Hartland