Govou represented France 49 times at the international level and won the Confederations Cup with the national team.
He starred for Lyon, where he won seven league titles and various other honours while making more than 400 appearances for the French giants.
But Govou has claimed that he was close to leaving Lyon for Liverpool in 2006 when the French giants were prepared to move him on.
Then Lyon boss Gerard Houllier had him training with the reserves and the player admitted that talks were on for him to move to Anfield.
But a deal fell through as Lyon failed to find a replacement for him and time ran out for him to join Liverpool.
Govou told French radio station RMC: “I had contact with Liverpool, where I was going to sign.
“Unfortunately, Lyon could not find a player to replace me.
“So, it went on and went on, except we were approaching 31st August and the transfer window was ending.”
Liverpool went on to reach the Champions League that season, where they lost to Serie A giants AC Milan.
