Lyon outcast Gomis comes in from cold

France striker Bafetimbi Gomis on Wednesday returned to training with the Lyon first team after a summer-long dispute with the Ligue 1 club. Gomis had been training alone since the start of pre-season as Lyon sought to move on a player who will be out of contract next June unless he agreed to sign a contract extension, which he has so far refused to do. The former Saint-Etienne forward, who earns in the region of 3.5 million euros ($4.6m) per year, saw a proposed move to Newcastle United fall through and refused to be forced out. Following the closure of the summer transfer window, he has now been reintegrated into Remi Garde's squad along with Jimmy Briand, who is also out of contract next June and had also been frozen out. "It is in the interest of the institution, our employer, to reintegrate them. This marks the end of what has been a difficult transfer window," said Garde. The Lyon coach will now be hoping that the duo can help a young squad which has lost its last four games, including both legs of their Champions League play-off against Real Sociedad. "We saw that the team could get by without them but struggled sometimes. The door is open to everyone once they are in the squad," he added. Source: AFP