Well we all know what happened!! please log in to view this image However this article about our initial approach for Marlet from 12 years ago is well worth a read: âLyon's director of sport Bernard Lacombe revealed on Monday that the club have turned down a bid from Fulham for France striker Steve Marlet. Fulham boss Jean Tigana has already snapped up the former Lyon midfielder Steed Malbranque this summer and now appears ready to raid the French club again to get his hands the highly-rated Marlet. "I spoke to Jean Tigana on the phone on Monday morning and he made a large offer," said Lacombe, who admitted that he was tempted by the offer but explained that the club does not have sufficient attacking cover to allow Marlet to leave. We simply can't afford to let him go so close to the start of our Champions' League campaign," he said. "Not only that, but we've just lost Sonny Anderson for three or four weeks to injury and Sidney Govou had to have an operation in July." Tigana, who coached Lyon between 1993-95, has been linked with numerous forwards recently as he strives to add a cutting edge to the squad that won the first division at a canter last season. The French coach lost out to German giants Borussia Dortmund in the race for Czech striker Jan Koller in the summer and were reportedly interested in Arsenal's out-of-favour Nigerian star Nwankwo Kanu. Fulham's first-choice forward Louis Saha netted twice for the Cottagers in their opening day clash with Manchester United, but question marks remain over the quality of back-up forwards Luis Boa Morte and Barry Hayles, who have yet to prove themselves at the highest level. The 23-year-old Marlet joined Lyon from Auxerre for £3.8 million in June 2000 and played an integral part in the club's success last season. His pace and movement alongside Anderson and Govou caused problems to the likes of Arsenal and Bayern Munich in the Champions' League, while he also helped the club secure their first trophy - the French League Cup - for 28 years. He was rewarded with a call-up to the full France side and scored his first international goal against South Korea in the Confederations Cup earlier in the summer. Marlet played over 100 games for Auxerre, having joined them from the lower-division Paris side Red Star. He had problems with his weight in the early stages of his career, but he soon put those behind him and is now regarded as one of the best strikers in Le Championnatâ
I'm one of the (very) few that actually doesn't think Marlet did too badly here, I remember him having a 1 goal in four games ratio, which for a side newly promoted isn't too bad. I know he cost a lot, but say Osvaldo for Southampton, who cost more, got 8-9 goals this season, would they regard him as a failure?
Lmao! Marlet made AJ look like a bargain! I'm sure this transfer was shrouded in dodgyness that resulted in legal action by us. Didn't Marlet's agent get a ridiculous (and slightly immoral) £2m fee?
Hardly. AJ cost us a LOT more during his stay with us due to his astronomical wages and the fact we continued to pay them whilst he was injured. Let's compare the two. Johnson, 86 games, 13 goals Marlet, 54 games, 11 goals. I know who I think was the biggest failure.
Granted AJ was with us for a lot longer so his wages were higher - but at least he always put in a shift (when fit), it's just a shame he never found the back of the net that often. I'd make the point that AJ didn't get as good service from his midfield as Marlet did - hence the weaker strike rate. Marlet on the other hand, cost £12million over a decade ago when transfer fees weren't as inflated as they are now. So on that fact alone, I'd say he was the bigger flop. My hypothetical question would be; if you could go back in time and tell the club not to go through with one if the purchases, which transfer would you stop? For me it's Marlet. I'd like to think there are a couple if fans on the Chelsea board having a similar 'flop debate' over Shevchenko and Torres ;-)
Marlet's first six months weren't all that bad when you consider he was adjusting to playing in a new league and a new position. And was pretty badly injured while on International duty - "Fulham striker Steve Marlet was named by his mother after the actor Steve McQueen and that gives something to live up to. As a 22-year-old, with just two months’ experience in Franceâs top division, Steve Marlet dealt with being compared to Ronaldo by the legendary Guy Roux, his manager at Auxerre. The people at Fulham gave him quite a build-up as an interviewee (such a lovely guy; he actually likes doing media work) and Marlet was able to justify it, being easy company, small in ego and quick of smile. It has been harder meeting expectations on the field. The price Fulham paid for Marlet when they imported him from Lyon last August carried a cost to the striker. Marletâs transfer fee was £11.5m, more than the London clubâs entire turnover in the previous season, and it initially seemed to hang on him like the equivalent in pounds of weight. August turned to September, October and November passed, Christmas came, and still Fulham fans waited for Marletâs first goal. Pundits began to ridicule Jean Tiganaâs claim to have signed the best Frenchman playing in France, and to question how Barcelona could also have been interested in the striker before he came to Craven Cottage. Worse, humble old Barry Hayles, the man Marlet was bought to replace, was scoring as if he were still facing Conference defences for Stevenage Borough. Marlet prefers you not to re-run his false start (please, for me that is the past and I want to look forward to the future) but it was hard not to appreciate the upturn in fortune when, last Thursday, he was named ahead of Nicolas Anelka and Youri Djorkaeff in the France squad. He won his place after three sharp performances in a two-week period against Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea, all watched by Roger Lemerre, the French national coach. If Marletâs scoring rate (seven goals in 17 games) since breaking his duck against Manchester United on December 29 is still not Ronaldo-esque, it is at least respectable. “I am happy now, he says. I heard the comments about me and I was hurt, but I kept my focus on my work and had support from my family and friends. When you have difficulties like I had, you become tougher. I know I can go forward, now, much stronger in the mind.” One of Marletâs problems was that before he came to Fulham, he had never played as an out-and-out centre-forward. A flexible footballer, quick and strong but also poised and deft, with a good spring and impressive aerial technique, he had spent his career in France on the right wing or as the support striker to a main man - at Lyon it was the Brazilian Sonny Andersen. “When I first came here and played No1 striker, Iâd stand and look around, but Iâm trying to alter my game and be more in the box. I used to think for the other players. Now I have to be more individualist.” Few critics understood the change Marlet was trying to make. Also overlooked, when people counted his weeks without a goal, was that because of an ankle problem sustained playing for France, and a fractured tibia incurred on Fulham duty, Marletâs four-month scoreless run involved only seven games. People forgot my injuries, but I understand why they asked questions, he says. If you spend that much money on a person, you want them to be good.”
