The Ligue 1 outfit’s value plummeted this afternoon amid fresh reports a £140,000-a-week deal for the forward has been signed, sealed and set to be announced by the Reds this afternoon.

The transfer saga surrounding the 24-year-old exploded last night when reports emerged the Anfield outfit had finally made steps to completing a deal with Lyon.

It was suggested the transfer would be complete today following a medical at France’s training ground – where Fekir is training ahead of his national team’s departure to Russia for the World Cup.

But this morning the saga took a shock turn when the official Lyon Twitter account posted a statement slamming the reports confirming a deal as “false”.

RISE BEFORE THE FALL: Lyon's share price leapt up when they denied the Fekir transfer rumour
UP AND DOWN: OL Groupe's share price dropped after the denial then rose amid a 'done deal'

The statement read: “The information on the transfer of Nabil Fekir is false. Olympique Lyonnais categorically denies the false information disseminated by many media about the transfer of Nabil Fekir to Liverpool.

“In this period of transfers where the slightest rumour is often presented as a reality, Olympique Lyonnais reminds that only the information disseminated by the club on its website is authentic.”

Straight after the announcement Lyon, which is a publicly listed company and so it operates on the European Stock Exchange, saw its share prices leap up.

Prices jumped from €3.08 a share at opening to €3.12 (at 9.20am local time).

OFF TO ANFIELD? Fekir is strongly rumoured to be moving to Liverpool

But after the strong denial from the club, fresh reports in France suggested the deal was still on and that a medical had been completed this morning.

It was suggested the deal will be confirmed this afternoon by Liverpool.

This then saw Lyon’s share price drop from €3.12 to €3.09 (at 12.26pm). This figure crept back up to €3.11 and remained at that price right up until just before the market closed at 5pm local time, when it dipped back to €3.09.

Amid the new revelations of a “done deal” were claims Lyon made the denial because, under French stock market regulations, companies are not allowed to release important information that may affect share price while markets are open.

Because of this, reports say the transfer won’t be announced until after the stock market closes in France (5pm local time, 4pm UK time).

Get French Football tweeted: “French stock market regulations state that a listed company, like Groupe OL, cannot release "important" information when the market is open, meaning any possible Nabil Fékir to Liverpool announcement will not occur before the French stock market closes.”

Daily Star Online has contacted Olympique Lyonnais for comment.