Moussa Dembélé, the French striker who spent five years at Olympique Lyonnais before leaving as a free agent last summer, has spoken candidly about his experiences at the club. In an explosive interview with Foot Mercato, the forward did not hold back in his assessment of the leadership at Lyon, describing the management as both arrogant and incompetent, responsible for years of decline at one of France’s most historically respected clubs.
The forward’s comments shed light on a culture he describes as toxic, where players were disrespected, undervalued, and often scapegoated for the club’s failures. For Dembélé, Lyon’s problems did not stem from the players on the pitch but from the way the organization was being run off it.Reflecting on his years in Lyon, Dembélé admitted that the atmosphere inside the club was far from conducive to growth or happiness. He compared his departure to that of Malo Gusto, Castello Lukeba, and Bradley Barcola, all young talents who recently left the club to continue their careers elsewhere. For Dembélé, their choices mirrored his own — decisions made in search of progress, respect, and better financial opportunities.
“Look at players like Lucas Paquetá or Bruno Guimarães,” he explained. “They left Lyon and now they are thriving, they are respected, and they are enjoying their careers.” The 28-year-old striker revealed that respect was often absent at Lyon, particularly from certain executives. He recalled an interview in which Bruno Cheyrou, the club’s former head of recruitment, referred to players as “assets.” Dembélé saw this as a shocking sign of disregard for human dignity.
“I am not an asset, I am a person,” Dembélé said firmly. “When you treat players as numbers or objects, you strip away respect. And if players are just assets, then what does that make the fans? Consumers? That kind of mentality insulted the whole locker room.”According to Dembélé, Lyon’s leadership repeatedly shifted blame for the team’s struggles onto players, creating a cycle of scapegoating that further undermined morale. “First it was Marcelo and Léo Dubois, then it was Bertrand Traoré and Maxwel Cornet, then Toko Ekambi, Thiago Mendes, Aouar, and finally myself,” he recalled.
Even when he wasn’t playing, critics within the club and the media suggested that he was part of the problem. But for Dembélé, the real issue was clear: “Football at Lyon was being run by people who do not understand the game. That’s the root of everything. They are incompetent in all areas, even when it comes to selling players.”
His point was underscored by the fact that several top players, including Memphis Depay, Jason Denayer, Houssem Aouar, and even Dembélé himself, left the club on free transfers. For a club with Lyon’s reputation and resources, repeatedly losing talent without financial return was, in his view, the clearest proof of poor planning and mismanagement.Dembélé’s personal story further illustrates the dysfunction. He joined Lyon in 2018, and by the end of his contract in 2023, the club had failed to secure an extension or arrange a transfer in advance. “They had five years to prepare,” he said. “But when the time came, they suddenly woke up and said I couldn’t leave for free. Their reaction was to strip me of the captain’s armband and send me to train with the reserves.”
Another issue that angered Dembélé was the lack of accountability among Lyon’s executives. He claimed that because many in the leadership had strong ties to journalists and television personalities, criticism of their work rarely surfaced in mainstream media. “If you look closely, these people are never truly criticized because they have friends in the press,” he said.
He credited only a handful of pundits — such as Daniel Riolo and Jérôme Rothen — for openly challenging the leadership. But overall, he saw a culture of silence and complicity that allowed incompetence to persist unchecked. “They don’t talk badly about their friends or former teammates. And so the cycle continues.”For Moussa Dembélé, the tragedy of Lyon’s management is not just about his own career but about the wasted potential of the club itself. Lyon has historically been a talent factory, producing or attracting players who go on to succeed at the highest levels in Europe. But under its current structure, too many of these stars leave unhappy, undervalued, or without bringing financial benefit to the club.
