La Liga Transfer News: Nabil Fekir signs for Real Betis

What's the story?

Lyon captain Nabil Fekir has signed for Real Betis, the club have announced on their official website.

The 26 year-old, a World Cup winner with France, arrived in Seville earlier today to undergo a medical and complete official formalities of the deal.

In case you didn't know...

Fekir was on the verge of signing for Liverpool last summer, before the Merseyside club pulled the plug on the deal at the eleventh hour.

With Fekir all set to represent France at the World Cup at the time, Liverpool had their medical team sent to France to carry out a medical.

Despite the fact that Fekir did his media formalities as a Liverpool player, the English club decided not to go ahead with the deal after the medical examination of the player flagged an underlying issue with his knee.

In recent days, Real Betis intensified their interest in the player and struck an agreement with Lyon, after which the player jetted out to Seville to thrash out the final details of the deal.

Yassin Fekir, Nabil's younger brother, will also move to Betis on a permanent deal as part of the deal and the 22-year-old is expected to be loaned out to Spanish second division side Cadiz CF imminently.

The heart of the matter

Nabil Fekir has sealed his switch to Real Betis for a fee believed to be in the region of €20 million plus €10 million in performance related add-ons.

Lyon have also inserted a 20% sell-on clause in his contract, which will entitle them to one-fifth of the transfer fee in the case that Fekir is sold to another club in the future.

What's next?

After a heartbreaking snub last summer in rather unfortunate circumstances, Nabil Fekir has finally sealed a move away from his boyhood club and will look to hit the ground running immediately with his new club.

Giovani Lo Celso's big money departure could gather pace in the coming days, as Real Betis have already drafted in a like-for-like replacement in the form of Fekir.

Lyon will reportedly turn their attention to Ajax superstar Hakim Ziyech, to fill the void left by their outgoing captain.