Can La Liga be Nabil Fekir's chance at redemption after Liverpool fallout?

"You will have to be very, very rich to sign Nabil Fekir this year," the director of French club Olympique Lyon Jean Michel Aulas had said in May 2018. Cut to 13 months later, and this bold declaration transformed into a desperate cry; the World Cup winner signed for Spain’s mid-table side Real Betis for Euro 20 million - more than a bargain considering the delirious nature of modern transfer fees.
The transfer speculation last year though was a result of the French midfielder's heroics for Lyon that helped them seal a Champions League spot at the end of the 2017-18 season. He scored 23 goals and gathered eight assists, before collecting the World Cup winners' medal in Moscow.
The 26-year-old then looked set to join Liverpool for £53m in 2018 before negotiations between the two clubs ended. Reports suggested that the move collapsed due to a failed medical, and concerns over a long-term knee problem.
Optimism was replaced by gloom and Fekir's form took a hit. Although he did manage to score 12 goals and assists nine in 39 matches – including a memorable performance against Manchester City – last season, he was often criticised for going missing in key moments.
But Fekir calls the Betis move as ‘a challenge' that can help redeem himself. "Well, everyone knows this championship is one of the best in the world and coming here to play was something I was really looking forward to from the very beginning," he told TOI and added, "and well, now I have been able to make that challenge come true."
The Frenchman insists that his new club's top-four aspirations prompted him to sign a four-year contract. "They explained [to] me the project they had and that they wanted to be on the top part of the table, and also take a ticket to Europe next season, I liked that and I did not hesitate one second," he said.
It might be early days, but Fekir has already shown promise in the green and whites of Betis. He scored twice - including one against Barcelona -- and assisted another in five appearances so far.
And the Spanish history has been all about deep-lying playmakers with Andres Iniesta, Xavi and Cesc Fabregas in its hall of fame. Fekir's dribbling allows him to move the ball into the attacking third and Betis' coach, Rubi, has allowed him the freedom to float through the pitch.
His new team are currently ninth on the LaLiga charts with two wins, losses and draws each in six games. The gap with sixth-placed Barcelona is just two points though. But they will look to fend off the likes of Real Sociedad, Bilbao, Sevilla and Real for a likely finish in at fourth.
"Well, that (top four) will be complicated," he says. "But we are going to give our best. We have to be ambitious and I believe all players here are ambitious and that we are all eager to play at the highest level and we are going to give our all to achieve it," said Fekir.
The can of worms reopened on his failed Liverpool transfer earlier in September when the midfielder told French media outlet L'Equipe that there were ‘a huge amount of lies' spread during the saga. He alleged that this ‘pseudo-physical problem' ruled out his chances with other clubs that were potentially interested in a transfer.
But opportunity finally came knocking on his door and a move to the Liga might just be the right window for him to finally move on. "Frankly, we have a great team. It is true that in the first two games, the results (losses to Valladolid and Barcelona) were not expected but there are new players and a new coach and a new technical staff," he told us.
With his goal-scoring exploits in the past and a knack for collecting valuable assists, Fekir's talents have never been under the scanner. But lately it's rather been about putting his head back into the game and demonstrating character that is expected of us all in the face of adversity.
"We need to let time go by so that everyone learns to get to know each other and learn to work together and I hope that we do that very soon," he said. Time is what it takes for all good things to materialise; time is what he might have again in this fresh start in another country; but only time will tell if he makes the most of it.