French forward completes £9.6m switch after Everton and West Ham chase - reliable journalist

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Published on:

27 Jan 2018, 6:48 am

Everton and West Ham have lost in the race to sign forward Martin Terrier from Lille after he signed for Lyon on Friday, according to a reliable journalist. Freelance reporter Paul Brown, who also works for the Express, claimed on his

personal Twitter account

on Saturday that Everton and West Ham had been scouting Terrier, 20, but instead the French forward has agreed terms to sign for Lyon, before being loaned back to Strasbourg until the end of the campaign after spending the first half of the season there.

Another one scouted by #whufc and #efc - off to Lyon insteadhttps://t.co/E0uLArnWuK
— Paul Brown (@pbsportswriter) January 27, 2018

Lyon confirmed on their

official Twitter account

and

official website

on Friday that they had spend £9.6million to sign Terrier, who has penned a deal that lasts until the end of the 2021/22 season.

L'Olympique Lyonnais informe de l'arrivée de @Martin_Terrier en provenance du @losclive et de son prêt au @RCSA jusqu’à l’issue de la saison 2017/18 ⤵️https://t.co/mhEVfp6jeT
— Olympique Lyonnais (@OL) January 26, 2018

Terrier has been in top form for Strasbourg so far this season, making 18 appearances in all competitions, scoring three goals and supplying three assists in the process. The French forward, who can play on the left-wing or as a striker, had only ever made 15 appearances for Lille, but clearly has a big future ahead of him. Terrier's form for the France Under-21 international side is also worth noting, with seven goals from his five caps.

Football Insider verdict

Everton and West Ham would have done very well to sign Terrier but a move to the Premier League would have probably seen Lille up their asking price due to the amount of money in the English game. It seems like a very clever deal that Lyon have pulled off though by allowing the France Under-21 international to return to Strasbourg, meaning he can continue his development in first-team football. It would have been unlikely that the 20-year-old would have got into Lyon's senior squad. As for the Toffees and the Hammers, it will not hurt them to continue looking in France for young talent. There seems to have been an explosion in French talent in recent years so being the first to that would be a very good move.

In other Everton news,

the Toffees are in the hunt to sign this £20million-rated midfield colossus dubbed as the next Paul Pogba

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