Arsenal target Aouar confirms he is staying at Lyon

10:59am on Monday 5th October 2020
By Martin Macdonald

Houssem Aouar has told reporters that he will remain with Lyon beyond the end of the current transfer window, which closes on Monday.

Following his excellent showings in the latter stages of the Champions League in the summer, he became a wanted man with both Manchester City and Arsenal making their interest known.

However, only the Gunners made their interest concrete by actually putting in a couple of offers for Aouar, which were subsequently labelled as "timid" by the Lyon president.

The two clubs remain far apart on their valuation of the player, and barring an eleventh hour decision from Arsenal to increase their offer significantly, Aouar will stay put.

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The player himself confirmed this following Lyon's match at the weekend, saying he "can still offer something" to the French side.

"I want to continue the adventure with the club that started my career," he told Telefoot La Chaine, apparently playing down any potential last-minute move to London.

Lyon have had a poor start to the 2020/21 Ligue 1 season, having won just one out of their opening six matches to leave them down in 14th.

They were much better against Marseille on Sunday, however, with Aouar scoring a penalty as they drew 1-1.

He knows his side will need to improve even going forward, though.

"We owe it to ourselves to do much better," he said.

"I hope we will get our heads up quickly."

One outgoing at Lyon that is looking more likely to happen is Memphis Depay joining Barcelona, with the French side confirming that the wheels were in motion for that particular transfer.

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