Lyon is counting on Corentin Tolisso to “bring a bit of Germanic mentality”

Jean-Michel Aulas does not hide it: “Olympique Lyonnais has Chimene’s eyes for Corentin. This is why the Lyon president did not hide his emotion this Friday morning, when formalizing before the press the return of Corentin Tolisso, one of the greatest successes of the OL training center, who played 160 games from 2013 to 2017 in the Lyon jersey. “It’s a very big day for me because Corentin is a very great player but also a man of his word and a man of heart, who comes with ambition in his heart (sic),” slipped JMA.

Five years after a huge transfer of 47.5 million euros (bonus included) to Bayern Munich, the versatile midfielder returns to Lyon with titles galore in his bag: a world champion title, a League of champions, five Bundesliga titles and two German Cups. What a change for you a man, even if he has only 21 starts in the league since his rupture of the cruciate ligaments of the right knee, in September 2018.

“A personal goal of going to the World Cup”

“After five years at Bayern, he is even stronger, that’s for sure, assures Lyon recruitment manager Bruno Cheyrou. It’s very important that he can bring a bit of Germanic mentality in the rigor, in the spirit of competition and in the will to win. These are values ​​that we must have more and more. »

Eager to join Lyon for the recovery, namely on Saturday, and always focused on his “personal goal of going to the World Cup”, Corentin Tolisso himself returned to his change of dimension in Bavaria: “I grew up , I matured, I saw a new system, a new culture, new mentalities. That’s what I need to bring to OL. We saw that sometimes the club was fishing on certain points, like when I was there in 2017.

The preparation of the supposedly easier matches in question

Namely a season with Bruno Genesio completed far from the podium in Ligue 1 (11 points from Nice, 3rd) and with eternal regrets on the semi-final of the Europa League against Peter Bosz’s Ajax, despite a workforce of very high level. “Coco” returned in more detail to what was behind this “Germanic mentality” mentioned by Bruno Cheyrou. “In 2016 or 2017 in Lyon, we were always present against the big teams but we lost a lot of points against the lower ranked teams. Even last season, OL played big matches, whether against Marseille or Paris. But it was more difficult against smaller teams. Today, this is what we must change. ” He pursues :

At Bayern Munich, it was this mentality that marked me the most when I arrived: whether we played against Dortmund or the 18th, the motivation was the same, the preparation was the same, and in the end, the result was often the same. We have to improve in this preparation for matches that are supposed to be easier. »

“More a psychological and mental problem than a physical one”

With an unknown: despite his hecatomb of injuries during his last season spent at Bayern, will the man with 28 caps with the France team be on the field most often, alongside his mate Alexandre Lacazette, to drive this shift in his training club?

“The medical visit is over, that’s a good point, smiles the person concerned. It’s true that I had a lot of problems. But I really think it was more of a psychological and mental problem than a physical one, for reasons I’m not going to explain today. A lot of things played in my head to lead to so many injuries. But I’ve done a lot of physical preparation and there won’t be any problem with my fitness. » And JMA said it, Corentin Tolisso is « a man of his word ».