Wang Fei could be on her way back to Olympique Lyonnais, just days after having her contract terminated by the club.

The China international left the club earlier this week having become their third choice stopper, with Sarah Bouhaddi's return from injury signalling the end of her time in France.

However, now she could return to the club after an injury to first choice 'keeper, Meline Gérard, who will be out for a number of weeks following an appendicitis operation.

Possible U-turn?

Just as reports started to emerge suggesting that Fei would return to play for Dalian Quanjian in her homeland, the news broke that Gérard was in hospital and Lyon were down to just the one 'keeper.

Fei took to Chinese social media and wrote, via Sports Sina, that, just as she had landed in China, she "received a call from Lyon" telling her that their number one stopper was "injured."

"You must immediately return to the club," she said she was told. "I thought the manager was joking. He says the goalkeeper is in the hospital."

Fei made three appearances during her four months with Lyon and it would be a big twist in the tale to see her return after failing to get the opportunities many felt she deserved.

With China's Olympic qualification process to start next month too, she will want to be playing regularly at domestic level to feature as their number one in those games, and to increase her chances of going to the Olympics with her country if they get there.

Why can't Lyon turn to youth?

Though Gérard is out for a few weeks now, Lyon do have two others goalkeepers on their books - Bouhaddi, who has just returned from injury, and 19-year-old Cindy Perrault.

Perrault has been training with the first team for a number of seasons. (Photo: Clin De Vie)
Perrault has been training with the first team for a number of seasons. (Photo: Clin De Vie)

Perrault has made the bench three times this season for the club, and she has shown her talent at youth level for France, accumulating 11 caps for the under-16, under-17 and under-19 teams combined.

If a third goalkeeper is only going to be bench-warming - or, at times, not even in the squad - then it is a wonder why Lyon would call back Fei when they could instead integrate a promising youth talent into the team and give her the experience of working with the seniors.

VAVEL Logo
About the author
Ameé Ruszkai
Head of the Sunderland, Swansea City and women football sections at VAVEL UK. Email: [email protected]