Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa is officially returning to Ligue 1.
Olympique Lyonnais announced Friday the signing of the 26-year-old centre-back from AS Roma on a five-year contract, completing a transfer valued at €8 million, plus €2 million in bonuses.
Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa s'engage 5 ans à l’OL pour un montant de 8M€ pouvant être complété par de 2M€ d’incentives. #teamOL pic.twitter.com/4BBJhEqvNp
— Olympique Lyonnais (@OL) August 14, 2015
It was only one year ago that Roma signed Yanga-Mbiwa on a two-season-long loan from Newcastle United. Then, in January, the Italian club activated a clause in the deal that stipulated the transfer would become permanent once he made 20 appearances.
Yanga-Mbiwa is one of those players who's seemingly always the center of attention, whether it be for good reasons or bad.
For example, at Newcastle, he put Samir Nasri on the sidelines for nearly six weeks with a reckless tackle. Last season, he scored the winning goal in the Derby della Capitale that secured Roma's place in the group stage of the 2015-16 Champions League.
And, of course, it was just over one week ago when he triggered a reaction from Lionel Messi that was unlike anything ever seen from the Argentinian phenom.
Lyon kicked off its Ligue 1 season with a scoreless draw versus Lorient and will visit En Avant de Guingamp on Saturday.
