Olympique Lyon's owner really, really wants to sign Alex Morgan
Alex Morgan, the superstar striker for the U.S. women's national team and the Orlando Pride, seems to have generated some interest from Olympique Lyon owner Jean-Michel Aulas. How do we know? Because he just can't seem to stop tweeting at her.
Take a look at his latest efforts on Friday, where apropos of absolutely nothing, Aulas responds to one of Morgan's tweets with a sales pitch about Lyon being the best women's club in Europe:
@alexmorgan13 @thekickstv the best women's team in Europe is Olympique Lyonnais the most ambitious game is also with OL ... Welcome in Lyon
— Jean-Michel AULAS (@JM_Aulas) September 9, 2016
Morgan's tweet that he was replying to? It was a tweet promoting a TV series based on children's books she authored. But that's pretty much how their Twitter interactions have gone since he started courting the star back in March, when he tweeted a similar pitch about Lyon being the best club in Europe to both Morgan and fellow national team player Kelley O'Hara:
@OL @ussoccer @ussoccer @UWCL @alexmorgan13 @kohara19 the best women team in Europe is Olympique Lyonnais pic.twitter.com/xTghlwnKJs
— Jean-Michel AULAS (@JM_Aulas) March 4, 2016
Since then, he has seemingly taken every opportunity to tweet at her and let her know that -- you guessed it -- Lyon is the best club in Europe. In this tweet from June, he expands on his pitch, telling Morgan that Lyon is not only the best team, but also has the nicest stadium:
@alexmorgan13 @AbbyWambach you can play In the best team In Europe with Olympique Lyonnais In the nicest stadium pic.twitter.com/hEHa6kBPzA
— Jean-Michel AULAS (@JM_Aulas) June 11, 2016
In July, he repeated his refrain again and told Morgan that the club is "waiting" for her after the Rio Olympics:
@alexmorgan13 and after Rio road to Olympique Lyonnais in the best team In Europe .... We are waiting .....
— Jean-Michel AULAS (@JM_Aulas) July 30, 2016
Lyon is indeed a powerhouse in women's soccer. They've won the French league 14 teams, the Coupe de France eight times and the UEFA Women's Champions League three times -- and they won all three of them in 2016. Aulas kept his pitch to Morgan simple after Lyon beat Wolfsburg for the Champion's League trophy in May, simply tweeting photos of him lifting the trophy with the team and a newspaper cover:
@OL @alexmorgan13 pic.twitter.com/TAqDjVxw76
— Jean-Michel AULAS (@JM_Aulas) May 29, 2016
It's not out of the question that Morgan could go to Lyon. Fellow national team star Megan Rapinoe played for Lyon up until 2014, earning more than $14,000 per month, a hefty sum in women's club soccer. And according to current collective bargaining agreement documents released in legal proceedings with USWNT players, Morgan is eligible to leave the U.S. Soccer-backed NWSL and the Orlando Pride after this season, if she wanted.
But if Morgan has been in talks with Lyon, then Aulas has no chill and hasn't done a good job of keeping things on the downlow. Still, this may very well be a one-sided courtship -- Morgan has yet to respond to a single tweet from Aulas.
We'll just have to wait and see if the strategy of tweeting at Morgan constantly turns out to be a good negotiation tactic.
MORE FROM FOX SOCCER:
