Hapoel Tel Aviv have not stopped watching Sylvain Francisco, according to a Sport5 report, with the club said to be tracking a financial crisis at ASVEL Villeurbanne that could put the French guard back on the market barely weeks after he signed there.
Francisco, 28, joined Tony Parker's club this summer after triggering a buyout clause to leave Zalgiris Kaunas, agreeing what was reported as a lucrative three-year deal worth around €4.1 million a season. Villeurbanne still owed Zalgiris a €400,000 release fee for the move, and Sport5 reports that payment deadline passed four days ago without the money arriving.
The reason, according to the report, is a dramatic collapse in ASVEL's finances. The Lyon-area club had built its 2026-27 planning around a record €59 million budget, but has now submitted a backup file to France's financial regulator built around roughly €24 million, after funding expected from an Asian investor failed to materialize on schedule. Eurohoops and other French outlets have separately reported the same budget figures in recent days.
With Villeurbanne's ability to honor Francisco's contract now in doubt, several EuroLeague clubs are said to be circling. Sport5 names Panathinaikos and Dubai alongside Hapoel Tel Aviv as suitors monitoring developments, a list that partly overlaps with reporting elsewhere naming Panathinaikos as an active tracker of the situation.
The Sport5 report, credited to Greek journalist Sotiris Wattakis, states that Hapoel Tel Aviv held talks with Francisco before he ultimately signed for Villeurbanne, and that the guard turned down the Israeli club at the time because of the security situation in Israel. Wattakis is reported to have cited both Zalgiris sources and Francisco's agent, Nikos Spanos, though he stressed the information was fresh and urged caution about treating it as settled.
Francisco arrived at Zalgiris in 2024 and quickly became one of the EuroLeague's most productive guards, averaging over 16 points and close to seven assists a game last season and earning All-EuroLeague First Team recognition before making the jump to Villeurbanne.
He is also believed to retain a separate NBA exit option in his ASVEL contract, giving him a further window to weigh his future even as the club scrambles to stabilize its budget before the new season.
Nothing has been confirmed by Hapoel Tel Aviv, and Sport5's own framing treats the Israeli club's renewed interest as speculative rather than an active negotiation. Whether a security-related refusal that held once still applies if Villeurbanne's project collapses entirely remains an open question the report does not answer.
