Warriors’ striker Tino Kadewere linked with a move away from Lyon

French Ligue 1 outfit Olympique Lyonnais (Lyon) striker Tino Kadewere is reportedly linked with a move away from the club.

This was confirmed in a story published on the French football publication, Foot Mercato website dated 21 January 2022.

According to Mercato, four French Ligue 1 clubs including Stade Rennais, Lorient, Troyes and Stade de Reims who are home to Kadewere’s compatriot Marshall Munetsi are all interested in the forward.

However, Rennes who are reportedly on the verge of losing their 25-year-old striker Serhou Guirassy to English clubs are in the leading pack to land Kadewere.

“In the event of Guirassy’s departure, the Breton club has checked the name of Tino Kadewere (26),” Mercato said.

The French football outlet added: “But Olympic Lyon does not want to see Kadewere leave, especially since the early elimination of Zimbabwe from the AFCON tournament.”

Furthermore, Mercato revealed that the Zimbabwean international is also on the radar of a number of French clubs with Lorient allegedly interested in a six months loan move for the 26-year-old former Harare City player.

“He is also coveted by Troyes, Reims and Lorient on a six-month loan deal.”

Kadewere joined Lyon from Le Havre for a €12 million fee in June 2020 on a four and a half year deal.

His contract is set to run until June 30 2024.

After his arrival, the lanky striker scored 10 goals for the Les Gones in his debutant 2020/21 campaign.

And amongst his goals, include the historic and familiar solitary strike he scored against French giants Paris Saint Germain in December 2020.

The goal saw Lyon break a long lasting 13 year old jinx of failing to beat PSG at their fortress home ground, the Parc des Princes Stadium since 2007.

However, this season Kadewere has been out of the picture, he only featured in nine Lyon games, of which he only started one which ended into a nightmare in October versus Nice.

In that match, he was shown a straight red in the final minutes of the game for a robust two footed challenge on Nice’s Melvin Bard.

Lyon went on to lose the league fixture despite that fact that they were in front with only ten minutes left to full time.

Albeit, they then surrendered their 1-0 lead and were handed a 2-1 defeat.

Meanwhile, in a desperate search for his salvation at the ongoing AFCON finals in Cameroon where Zimbabwe crashed out earlier than expected, Kadewere also failed to produce a scintillating performance.

Despite featuring in all the Warriors’ three group stages games where he started a single match and came in as a substitute on two occasions, the Lyon player could not find the back of the net.

In total, he played 149 minutes, but managed zero goals or assists and for a player who plys his trade in France’s top tier league, it was intolerable.

The 26-year-old striker’s performance was clearly encapsulated by flashes of ‘poor execution’ till the end of the tournament.

Nonetheless, his situation is ‘understandable’ after all this happened at a time when the out of form striker had suffered a series of injuries since his last season.

He sustained a groin injury at the end of the last campaign that saw him being sidelined in the last part of the season’s remaining games.

He then recovered but unfortunately was further sidelined for weeks this season.

This was due to a thigh injury he sustained in September when Zimbabwe played Bafana Bafana in a World Cup Qualifier at the National Sports Stadium.

The forward then recovered in October, just two months before the Warriors travelled to the West African country for the nations cup. Nehanda Radio