Lyon Coach Pierre Sage excludes Super Eagles striker Gift Orban from squad for Toulouse clash

Lyon head coach Pierre Sage has decided to leave Nigerian striker Gift Orban out of the squad for their upcoming Ligue 1 match against Toulouse at the Stadium Municipal on Sunday.

Since joining Lyon in January, Orban has experienced a mixed run of form. During the summer transfer window, there were strong indications that the club might part ways with the 22-year-old forward, but no transfer materialized.

Orban’s start to the Ligue 1 campaign was slow, missing out on the first two games, which fueled speculation that he was no longer in Lyon’s plans. However, in the third game of the season, Orban made a big impact, coming off the bench to score twice in Lyon’s thrilling 4-3 victory against Strasbourg.

Following his impressive performance, Coach Sage rewarded Orban with two consecutive starts, but the Nigerian striker was unable to find the back of the net in those matches. In Lyon’s Europa League fixture against Olympiacos last week, Orban was benched for the entire 90 minutes, raising further questions about his place in the team.

Now, ahead of Lyon’s important Ligue 1 clash against Toulouse, Orban has been left out of the traveling squad. According to reports, the exclusion is purely a tactical decision by Sage and not due to any injury concerns.

Lyon, who have only managed to collect four points from their first five games of the season, will be hoping to turn their fortunes around in the upcoming fixtures and begin a more consistent winning run.