Barely three weeks after Sylvain Francisco put pen to paper on a reported €5 million-a-season contract with LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne, Panathinaikos are already trying to pull him away from it. Sport5 reports that the Greek club has lodged a concrete offer for the French point guard worth at least €3 million a year over a minimum of three seasons.
The timing is no accident. ASVEL, the Lyon-area club chaired by former NBA champion Tony Parker, has been plunged into a financial crisis just as its ambitious summer rebuild was taking shape. Having initially presented French basketball's financial oversight body, the DNCCG, with a record budget plan of €59 million, the club has since been forced to submit a revised proposal of just €24 million — a cut of some €35 million.
That collapse has left ASVEL unable to guarantee it can meet the payments promised to several of its new signings, Francisco included, according to the reporting. Multiple players who arrived in Villeurbanne this summer are said to be exploring their options as a result.
Francisco himself is not currently pushing for a way out, per the reports circulating around the club. Having only just committed his future to the project, he is said to be waiting to see whether ASVEL can stabilise its finances before entertaining anything concrete from elsewhere — even as suitors like Panathinaikos test the water.
The interest is easy to understand. The 28-year-old, Paris-born guard was the standout story of last season's EuroLeague, inspiring Žalgiris Kaunas to a strong campaign with 16.5 points and 6.5 assists per game to go with 2.9 rebounds and 39 percent shooting from three. He was named EuroLeague MVP for October and earned a spot on the All-EuroLeague First Team — the first of his career.
It was that breakout form that persuaded ASVEL to make him a marquee arrival this summer, part of a rebuild that also brought in Daniel Theis, Nick Weiler-Babb, Armoni Brooks, Both Gach and Yves Pons. Francisco's NBA exit clause has already lapsed, meaning any move from here would be to another European club rather than across the Atlantic.
For Panathinaikos, a move for Francisco would fit a pattern: the Greens have circled the guard before, in earlier stages of the offseason, only to see him commit to Villeurbanne. Sport5's report suggests they have not given up, and ASVEL's sudden vulnerability has reopened the door.
Nothing is imminent. Francisco is contracted, ASVEL insists its project remains alive, and the guard has given no public indication he wants to leave. But with the club's budget nearly halved in a matter of weeks, the situation is one to watch closely as the EuroLeague season approaches.
