ALAN REYNOLDS has revealed that Lys Mousset’s contract is heavily-incentivised but says the Frenchman has not joined Bohemians for the money.
Despite some fitness concerns, Mousset is poised to make his Bohs debut on Sunday against Shamrock Rovers at the Aviva Stadium, for which more than 25,000 tickets have already been sold.
Reynolds revealed former Ireland captain John Egan – who played with Mousset at Sheffield United – had some involvement in the Frenchman linking up with the Gypsies.
And Reynolds insisted that the striker who cost the Blades £10million in 2019 is at the club for the right reasons.
He said: “The first day we saw him it was like he’d never kicked a ball.
“You could see the quality, but he was rusty. I think he’ll take time but he’ll be involved in some way.
“He fell out of love with it. He’s just looking for a chance to come back, be happy and play.
“He loved the Irish lads, Enda Stevens, John Egan and so on, and he was saying it was similar to his time at Sheffield United.
“That’s how he felt and he was happy to be here. That was his happiest time, I suppose, in his career.
“Obviously the contracts that he was on before to the contract he’s on now, there’s a massive difference.
“He has to earn it too, it’s not, ‘here you go’, it has to be incentivised for him to play well. That’s a big part of things with Lys.
“It’s peanuts compared to what he would have been on but I’m not sure it’s about money with him now. I’d say he still has money, or maybe he’s blown the money.
“I don’t know what he’s done with it but it’s just about getting playing.”
Rennie joked that he had suggested the player move in with him but added: “You’d need someone to mind the two of us. He will be in with someone.”
Rennie confirmed that he had enquired about bringing former Bohs striker Jonathan Afolabi, currently on loan to SC Cambuur in Holland from Belgian outfit Kortrijk, back to the club.
He said: “We did ask but he’s staying put. That’s not to say he mightn’t line up on Sunday with Rovers but what we got was that he was staying put, that he was recovering from injury.”
For Rennie, Sunday will be the first time he has managed at Lansdowne Road since the 2004 FAI Cup when he was player-manager as his Waterford side were beaten 2-1 by Longford Town as they conceded two goals in the last four minutes.
He recalled: “We were robbed that day. It took me a while to get over that.
“I really should have taken myself off because we probably would have won.
“We got to the Cup final and finished fourth. I thought it was easy and then I got sacked the next season.
“When we started to lose games and it got difficult I didn’t know how to deal with it. That was great learning but at the time I thought I could walk on water.”
