Almost a done deal. We have Makaay, but I'll miss Elber for sure. I wanted him to stay, but we have Pizarro on fire. Hope that the killer striker sleepin in Makaay awakes quickly.


27.08.2003 | Giovane Elber has ended speculation over his future at Bayern by agreeing to join Olympique Lyonnais. The 31 year-old has a contract in Munich until summer 2004 but has lost his first-team place to record signing Roy Makaay.

Elber will undergo a medical at his prospective new club, French champions for the past two years, on Wednesday evening. If he passes the routine tests, signed contracts between Elber and the two clubs will come into effect.

The transfer had seemed only a matter of time after talks with Lyon and AS Monaco reached an advanced stage, the striker reported following Wednesday morning training in Munich. The player and his agent Giovanni Brancchini had opened negotiations with the leading French clubs around 10 days ago.

Champions League participants Lyon have been urgently seeking a replacement for Elber's fellow countryman Sonny Andersson who quit the club in the summer for Villareal. "Elber's huge experience of the Bundesliga and the Champions League was an important element in our decision," commented Olympique press spokesman Olivier Blanc.

Bayern general manager Uli Hoeneß had earlier said there would be a decision on Elber's future "by Thursday at the latest. As soon as we've cleared up the details, and we're working on it right now, he'll leave us," Hoeneß told the Bild tabloid.

The move heralds a new phase in the Brazilian's career – and the end of a long and successful spell in Germany. "Yes, I'm very sad. It's not easy for me to leave Bayern after six seasons," admitted the Bundesliga's leading scorer last term. Elber joined Munich in 1997 and has collected Champions League, World Club Cup, DFB Cup and four championship titles since then, scoring 92 goals in 169 Bundesliga appearances. It is now clear his 79th minute strike to put Bayern 2-0 up against Hamburg last Sunday was his farewell goal in Germany.

The striker had a special message to fans of Germany's most successful club: with or without Giovane Elber, the fans should "stay loyal to the club and keep driving it forward. Bayern can't afford to stand still, never."

Up the Elber!:rockman:

I enjoy watching him play and am sad the way he is being forced out of Bayern despite the fact that he is still fully capable of scoring tons of goals.

I wish him the best where ever he moves to.:)

2 year-deal - €4,2 million ;)

It´s the best for Elber

Sad to see him go for certain.

Although this means that if the super injury prone Santa Cruz goes down, and then makaay or pizarro goes down as well, then the other teams could take over from Bayern in the Bundesliga.

he will return to munich to Champions League. Bayern and Lyon are in the same group. :D

Elber will undoubtly fill the void now that Sonny Anderson is gone. Good move for Elber. :rockman:

I think, that was a a big mistake of Bayern because Zickler ans Santa Cruz are injuri-ridden and Makkaay don't score because he isn't integrated yet. Only Pizzaro scores but when he is injured then Bayern has a big problem.:mrpimp:

bayern wanted to get rid of elber for a while back, so im not surpriced, good for lyon

Just hope he scores in Munich and Lyon to help Lyon win on both games just to show Munich that he can still score goals. For Gods Sake man, he did more than Maakay, who played the whole game, did playing less than 20 min. in the last weekend, he even scored a goal.

awesome for lyon esp. befor the CL