‘Almost disrespectful’ – Como midfielder Maxence Caqueret on the end of Lyon journey

‘Almost disrespectful’ – Como midfielder Maxence Caqueret on the end of Lyon journey A product of the club’s youth system, Maxence Caqueret had certainly hoped that his time at Olympique Lyonnais would have a very different ending. However, following a difficult first half of the 2024-25 season, the midfielder was forced to leave Les Rouge et Bleu, having seen his playing time and status diminished. “I was one of the senior figures in the dressing room; I was approaching 200 appearances at the age of 24. The fall from grace was immediate and it was tough,” he says in an interview with Kampo . Whilst he insists he “kept working hard” and training well, and even got some playing time, Caqueret explains that “it wasn’t what I wanted and it wasn’t what I’d had all those years” . It was therefore a difficult period for the man who had been one of the vice-captains of the Rhône-based team. Whilst he acknowledges his own dip in form, Caqueret points to a lack of communication which, had it not been the case, might have enabled him to better understand what was happening. “I might have liked it if they’d spoken to me a bit more. Perhaps simply explained to me that things aren’t going so well at the moment, that we need to make some changes but that my role remains the same. And that’s not how I felt at the time.” On the contrary, his situation did not improve; he found it very difficult to cope with being left out of the squad for the home match against AJ Auxerre in October 2024. “I didn’t expect to be left out of the squad for a match,” he says. “For me, it was almost a lack of respect.” And although he wanted to “fight to get my place back” , Caqueret eventually had to face the facts. A few months later, the club officially announced his transfer to Como 1907, where he has since regained regular playing time. GFFN | Léo Aschi