Lyon president on the lookout for investment on and off the pitch

Jean-Michel Aulas' first task when he arrives in Abu Dhabi this week will be to meet directors at Al Wahda to discuss the progress of the on-loan defender Hamdan Al Kamali. Audio interviews

Hamdan Al Kamali, centre, flanked by Jean-Michel Aulas, left, the Lyon president, and Remi Garde, the first-team coach, after finalising his loan move to France earlier this year. Courtesy of Al IttihadShow less

Jean-Michel Aulas, the Lyon president, had arranged this week's trip to Abu Dhabi before Christmas, but its timing is significant.

Two weeks ago, the French side suffered a surprise Champions League defeat to APOEL Nicosia; they are fifth in the league, four points behind Lille in third, and at risk of not qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in 13 years. Aulas has a busy agenda when he arrives tomorrow.

His first task will be to meet directors at Al Wahda, to discuss the progress of the on-loan defender Hamdan Al Kamali, a winter signing and the first Emirati to move to Europe.

Al Kamali has made an encouraging start to his Lyon career, and recently made his reserve-team debut in a 4-2 win over Bourg Peronnas to keep OL2 (the club's full name is Olympique Lyonnais) seven points clear at the top of the CFA division in French football's fourth tier.

"I am going to Abu Dhabi as part of the agreement we made with Hamdan Al Kamali but I also hope to meet some economic and political leaders when I am there," Aulas said. "If there is the opportunity to enter talks with other businesses there, we will. But this is not a search for majority partners like PSG [had]."

Paris Saint-Germain's sale to Qatari Sports Investments has led to speculation that more Ligue 1 clubs could be bought. Marseille, Lille and Bordeaux are all thought to be interesting propositions.

Lyon do not appear to be on that list - at least at present.

"Now that PSG are aiming to become a big European club, with almost unlimited money, Lyon have to find new sources of income in order to stay competitive," the France-based writer Simon Kuper, the author of Soccernomics, said.

"Like PSG, Aulas sees that the best way is to go to the emerging markets of football: the Gulf countries and East Asia.

"These countries have unlimited money to pump into football, but no serious brands of their own, so they will invest in European clubs."

Aulas was quick to refute recent reports that Lyon was a target for another Qatari takeover but his denial came with a caveat.

"There has been no contact with the Qataris but there are two other emirates who can afford to invest in a European club, in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. I am someone who's interested in this part of the world."

And the financial considerations could be a reasons for the French club to warm to advances from abroad.

"I don't think Aulas wants to sell Lyon, because he likes having control of the club," L'Equipe's chief football writer Vincent Duluc said. "But he needs to cover a €25 million [Dh121m] deficit in his accounts by this summer and that's why he wanted to sell some players in January."

There are opportunities for investment in the club.

Aulas is overseeing the €250m construction of a 60,000-capacity stadium that will be ready in 2014, two years before France hosts the 2016 European Championship. The naming rights to the new stadium have yet to be sold, while Lyon's shirt sponsors, Betclic, are pulling out of their €7m annual contract this summer, one year earlier than originally planned.

"There are investors [in the region] who are not interested in OL as such, but are interested in the new stadium project," Aulas said.

The deal with Al Wahda for Al Kamali is not yet a financial one but we may well look back on the transfer as not just the first of its kind, but one that opened the floodgates to a new era for Lyon: one of cooperation with a region which could help the club against the backdrop of PSG's largesse.

"This is a sporting partnership at the moment, but it could yet become an economic one," said Olivier Blanc, a Lyon spokesman. "This is not the end of the story. It's the beginning."

At Al Kamali's unveiling back in January, Aulas spoke of "anticipating the future" and wanting to work with countries "that are growing faster than others in football".

Clearly, he sees the UAE in that category but there are others: Lyon already have a partnership with the Lebanese club Athletico, which sees their coaches put on coaching workshops in Beirut three times a year, and in return, Athletico players and coaches spend time at Lyon's academy.

There is a similar deal in place with the Chinese football federation, where on top of the coaching workshops, Lyon takes in two outstanding 16-year-old prospects, chosen out of 500 young players, for a year in their academy, with two Lyon coaches helping in the selection process.

Lyon's female team, who won the women's Champions League final last year in London, have also got in on the act, signing the 19-year-old Japanese player Ami Otaki. She has been called up for Japan's Olympic team and is probably the closest equivalent the club have to Al Kamali.

If anyone can grasp the changing nature of football, it is Aulas. Lyon were a second division club when he took over in 1987, but an investment in the youth academy and a habit for employing future France coaches (including Raymond Domenech and Jacques Santini, his predecessor) helped the club's long-term development.

"Aulas knew what he wanted and how to get it," said Remi Garde, the present coach, who graduated through the Lyon academy and has taken every job going at the club. "He was one of the first to understand that the sport was changing. He was a visionary."

Aulas once said at a football conference in Zurich that "I have never been afraid to open my mouth and say things that upset people".

"But I was coming up with ideas that no one else had before and sometimes you have to shock people to get your message across. We can do things now that we could not do 25 years ago, but my policies always looked to the future, and they still do."

In the past decade, Aulas profited from a different strategy. Lyon had never won a league title until 2002: even then, they had to beat title challengers Lens 3-1 on the final day of the season to secure the championship.

That season their two key players were both Brazilian: the captain and top scorer Sonny Anderson, and the central defender Edmilson, who went on to win the 2002 World Cup for his country.

By then, Aulas had already decided to target Brazil as the source for non-Francophone players.

He employed the former Lyon captain Marcelo, then an agent, to scout the players, and Anderson as an ambassador promoting the club in Brazil.

"Every club has a different commercial and marketing and recruitment strategy," Aulas said. "We do things differently to Real Madrid, who like to buy Ballon d'Or players when they are already established and at the top of their game, whatever their nationality.

"We prefer to focus our foreign contingent on just having Brazilians, that way we have great links with the country and fans there who support us as well."

Since that first title, Claudio Cacapa, Fred, Fabio Santos and Juninho Pernambucano have played for the club, while Cris, the captain, Ederson and Michel Bastos are still there.

It is worth remembering, though, that Lyon did not pick these Brazilians just for their quality, but also for their ability to adapt.

As Blanc said of Al Kamali: "Our scouts felt his level was interesting, but his mentality is also very good. Very strong."

After that first title, Lyon won the next seven, and before too long, others starting copying their methods. Brazil (after Barcelona) has now become the first port of call for European clubs looking to find the stars of tomorrow. The true pioneer changes tack to stay one step ahead of his rivals but Aulas has been struggling for answers since 2008. Lyon have been without a trophy for the last four years.

Last summer he changed strategy again, ushering in an age of austerity, and promoting Garde from academy director to first-team coach.

With barely no money to spend - less than €5m on Bakary Kone and Gueida Fofana - and a reliance on the youth graduates Garde previously coached, Lyon have reached the League Cup final and are still fighting to finish in third place (since the APOEL defeat, Lyon have beaten Lille and Saint-Etienne, two teams around them, to keep those chances alive).

This is where Al Kamali can take confidence: Garde has drawn on players who only two years ago were in the Pro 2 squad, and are now starting big league and European games.

The likes of Clement Grenier, Alexandre Lacazette, Samuel Umtiti, Maxime Gonalons and Timothee Kolodziejczak have all held their own this season, and should be the inspiration for the 22 year old.

The youngsters' relative success this season has been another stick with which to criticise the previous coach Claude Puel, who was reluctant to give the same players a chance.

If Al Kamali can cope with the level, there is no doubt that Garde would be prepared to promote him through the ranks.