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Arsenal have lodged an official offer for Lyon star Houssem Aouar

Arsenal have lodged an official offer for Lyon star Houssem Aouar ahead of a potential move to London this summer.

According to French news outlet Le10Sport, ‘the file is progressing well’ and a deal can be wrapped up for a nominal €20 million to 25 million.

That’s a huge drop off from what the French side were asking for last summer. His current price has thus naturally alerted many of the top clubs like Atletico Madrid and PSG.

However, Arsenal look to be the frontrunners for his signature who have officially made an offer to their French counterparts. The report further suggested that the Gunners’ manager Mikel Arteta has admired the France U21 international for a long time.

The talks with the player’s camp have been kept under wraps due to Arsenal’s preference to sign players without the news getting leaked. Nobody had a clue that the North London outfit had bid for Italian international Manuel Locatelli, until the CEO came out and put Arsenal’s name in the spotlight.

That appears to be the case with Aouar’s pursuit too. Le10Sport claims that Les Gones are open to letting their 23-year-old midfielder leave if a suitable offer arrives on the table.

In his 170 appearances for Lyon, the Frenchman has played across every midfield position, which would appeal to Mikel Arteta. The Spaniard’s in-game management was often under scrutiny last season, as he failed to turn things around when the Gunners went onto concede first.

Aouar signing has other perks too as compared to signing Leicester City’s James Maddison. First, acquiring the Frenchman’s services is more economical. Second, the midfielder has more experience of playing as a number eight than Maddison and also has a good injury track record.

With the acquisition of Aouar, Emile Smith Rowe’s development as a number 10 can continue.

It is obvious that technical director Edu must weigh all the possibilities before signing a player, if he wants to get it absolutely spot on.

Yash Bisht

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43 Comments

  1. This player market value supposedly was 60m a year ago now is 20-30m. I can understand why some teams decide to wait or skip on a player at times. The football market is crazy.

  2. He was our target last summer and is still a target now. An excellent player, can play across the midfield, will be a fantastic addition. Also he has got age on his side.

    1. At 23 years, with the potential Aouar has, it will be difficult to find any alternatives like him.

  3. Most times are inflated value depends on supply n demand. Rumors media hype ups.

    At such times players aplenty but giant teams have plentiful of players as well n not every player they can go after and bid.

  4. Martinez saved 3 penalties for argentina last night&we don’t have a reliable keeper,Arteta decision making can be criminal&i don’t trust him a bit on all his targets for signing until i see them perform be it aour,lokonga,white or tavares.Arteta is just making things worse everyday

    1. Aha, the never ending obsession of making everything about Arteta.
      It was Wenger, then it was Xhaka, then it was Ozil, and now it’s Arteta.
      When Arteta leaves who will take the mantle next?

      Leno at 1.15 odds seems to be the favorite to take the scapegoat position.

      This is an article about Aouar, but you’re making it about Arteta.
      How about just being happy for Martinez and get along with it without having to whine about anything?

      1. Eddie this is not about obsession, it’s a fact, how can we trust a coach who makes a decision to sell the better keeper and the next season we are looking for another keeper. We have saliba who has never played a single minute but yet we are trying to buy another CB for 50million. How can we trust such a coach to make the right decision on transfer.

        1. It’s about Obsession, we all know it and see it. Hijack every article and find a way to drag Arteta into it.
          Arteta and the club did what the deemed right.
          Leno was one of best players before he got injured, and you guys blame the manager for sticking with someone he has been able to rely on just because someone new came in and perfromed too.
          Why can’t y’all just be happy for Martinez and move on with it?
          Does it have to be a discussion of blaming the manager for sticking with Leno every time Martinez comes up in a discussion?

        2. You didn’t or the world didn’t know how that keeper situation was going to turn out. Leno is good and Marty turned out to be good also. Both are good keepers.

        1. They weren’t especially hard saves anyway ,all 3 penalties saved was low to his left and pretty close to him and the first one they scored went through his fingers .

      3. Facts, stop the areta bashing. The team had the 3rd best record after xmas. Just a very bad start. Give them a chance or go join the spur fan base. Who would want to join Arsenal with a fan base like our’s. Chill out for once and giveAreta and the team a chance.

        1. Lots of the younger fans on here are not SUPPORTERS at all, as their comments are not supportive. Thet may well be fans but they are not supporters and have no idea at all what being a real SUPPORTER ACTUALLY ENTAILS .

          Most of them disgust me TBH. We and they all know exactly who they are and IMO this club would be far better off without those self entitled, immature, hot headed and rather pathetic fans!

          1. Abit like you Jon that doesn’t support one player that I can think of unless they run around like a headless chickens ,so we can add you to the ever growing non supporter club

      5. Spot on Eddie.I’m afraid those who have an insatiable dislike for our Manager never miss an opportunity to stab him in the back even.Rarely, if ever ,do they make any constructive comments on the topic or player under discussion.Most of the anti Arteta brigade have never played the game at a decent level nor do they have a clue about the skills required in Football management.They play their computer games, read statistics and think they are experts.

    2. Hw many penalties did he save against liverpool in the community shield? The fact that he left arsenal and became a better player shouldn’t be blamed on arteta. I am in no way justifying arteta’s decision but we all know how good Leno was before he got injured which resulted in martinez taking his place. If he isn’t doing well, what would you have said?.

    3. Couldn’t agree more about Martinez!

      As soon as I got the news he was going to Villa I knew it was a MASSIVE mistake. His performances for us in his last season made me realize that Arsenal were exceptional and even better than Leno yet, he was allowed to leave. I can’t trust the club to make the right decisions.

      Some on here will still say it was the best move but all know it’s not true. Just like bringing in Willian and Co. Just more bad decision making after another. I seriously hope they have learnt from pat mistakes to rectify the issues.

  5. Aouar as an alternative to Bissouma/Locatelli and what not?
    I would go along with that.

  7. I hope this is true and our guys are serious about buying new palyers. Am keenly waiting for the signings.

    1. We don’t need white. Get a RB, LB CM. Rowe will the 10 spot with willock. New winger sell, willian. And sell Auba or Laca and get a younger striker.

      1. Quote – “The team had the 3rd best record after xmas”
        If Arsenal has the 3rd best record after X’mas, why do we need to make any changes to the current squad? We can play the season with the current squad and qualify for CL the next season.

        Only Odegaard, Ceballos and Luiz are not here from the last season squad. 8 goal Willock can easily cover for 2 goal Odegaard and even a blind-folded AMN can’t play worse than Ceballos. Only Luiz position must be addressed. That means, unlike your assessment, we need to sign White.

        I’d like to know how can you justify the need for signing a RB, LB, CM, new winger and a younger striker.

        1. I can justify everyone of those but RB.
          We don’t have a backup LB
          We’re light at CM with Ceballos out.
          We need young striker because the current starting pair are near the end.

  8. But not to sell Smith Rowe because there will be an earthquake in the Arsenal Football Club. He is our Generational Talent from our Academy. No Coach, no Director no Team owner should temper with him. ONLY A LOAN DEAL WITH OUT THE OPTION TO SELL may be TOLERATED.

  9. Life it sev is a risk
    We need found at the moment when we sold Martinez and the thing is it could be Leno or anyone at that moment in that time, assuming it was Leno we sold and he turned out to be bargain for the team that bought him, am very sure there will still be complain from the fans as well…..Well it good to be fans than being in system….. Was Leno that bad last season? NO
    Was Martinez really better Leno statistically? NO
    our defense was third in the league last season mind u it was courtesy of defense and leno, what are u telling me…..
    Once things click and everything start to be flowing we won’t be finding scapegoat every now and then bcos I could remember the praise we were given Leno on his First season and b4 he got injured………
    It will be nice to get Aour
    He is utility and fantastic player I swear

    2. Statistics are not everything! Look at how our defense performed on the pitch Martinez and without him and you’ll know the difference.. Martinez is a leader leno isn’t.. Thats the difference

  11. Aubameyang.

    Smith-Rowe. Aouar. Saka.

    Lokonga. Partey.

    Tierney. Gabriel. White. Cedric.

    Not a bad team if these signings happen.

    Although, we do not know how good Lokonga is yet. Seems Arteta does not want to sign Bissouma.

  12. With adequate signings there will be healthy competition in the team.

    The likes of Pepe, Lacazette, Willock, might be starting from the bench

  13. Lokonga is a back up to Partey. Aouor is to be played both next to Partey and in the 10 behind the striker and also on the left.
    Another midfielder will still come in to play alongside Partey.
    We have sorted The back up LB with Tavares. It looks like Saliba is still here , they are saying because of Marseille suddenly not wanting him, but in truth the backlash against Arteta can end up costing him his job. He is very unpopular with the fanbase as a whole.

    There is no way White is 25m better than Saliba. That is just flavor of the week nonsense. This is the difference between a great coach and a great manager.

    Arteta is still basically a very good coach but an average manager.

    At the current rate he is going at he will be most likely gone by Christmas, his decesions are deeply unpopular, he has very little faith/credit from the fanbase as a whole. The football is deeply unattractive also.
    Yes we do have the 2nd best record since Christmas and for this reason only he is to be given time to see if this is merely because we won a lot of games when the pressure was off or if it’s a real upward trajectory.

    For me something needs to really click this season with the attacking play otherwise he will be gone soon. The fans are back now he doesnt have the same space as last year.

    If we have a run like last year autumn Arteta AND Edu will be gone.

    Edu is highly highly suspect in all of his decesions so far, expect Martinelli, and even there he is suspect becuase he has allowed Arteta to regress Martinelli last year.

    Edu suspect decesions

    1) Allowing Guendouzi to leave without renewing contract to protect value. Now final sale value will be around 7m. Disgraceful for a player who would have fetched at least 35m two years ago.

    2) Not selling Eddie in January for 20+m to West Ham, ink to allow him to rot in squad and not even extending him in January to protect value

    3) AMN not selling him for 20+m to Wolves when offer was in table

    4) Saliba …do I need to even write anything here. This is a disgrace from both Arteta and Edu towards a world-class potential youngster which Arsene would have loved and made a star of. See Kolo Toure for reference

    5) Soares, only bought because same.agwmt as Edu

    6) William complete novice mistake by Arteta and also Edu to give an aging 32 year player a 3 year contract a 220k/week. Also same.agejt as Edu

    7) Mavropanos, contract allowed to rundown and not extended even though he was out playing a blinder in Germany, and had his contract been extended we could have got double for him. He is being allowed to leave for around 5-7m.

    8) Xhaka not being sold for around 25m is a disgrace. They set a price of 19m for a player in his prime, great injury record,.leadership quality, captain of his country etc. In fact should we even he selling him right now when he has finally come good?

    9) Selling Martinez.wuen clearly he is a far better all around keeper to Leno. Worst still has actually suits the style Arteta wants to play- playing out from the back. He has great presence in his area, okays out qucikly which Leno will never do so playig out from the back will always he slow and buid up always slow with Leno.

    10) not able to get a fee for Mustaphi

    11) Not able to get a fee for Kokasinac

    12) not loaning out Nelson last year to give.him experience at a vital time in his development and also to protect his value

    13) Not being able to identify the correct replacement for Bellerin or a buyer fo.him

    14) Allowing Arteta to still he in job after last Autumn and successive 8th place finishes.

    15) For being part of the breakaway Super League shambles

    16) For not having any real African or Asian scouting network contacts

    17) For having only minor European scouting network contacts.

    18) For disbanding our own very knowledgeable scouting network to cost cut. This includes Francis Cagigoa, who found Fabregas amongst others.

    Do I need to go on?

    1. That buddy ,is a fine post 👍
      Except I don’t agree with point 9 😂
      Everything else is bang on the money

    2. You have got a lot off your chest Free and most of the points you raise are entirely pertinent.However to suggest that Edu is to blame for our failure to bring in funds from the sale of Mustafi, Kolasinac and Bellerin is totally unfair as he was not around when they were acquired or developed.Similarly the fact that we cannot get 25m for Xhaka is nothing to do with Edu but is symptomatic of the current economic climate which you ought to be aware of.With regard to your assertions concerning our lack of scouting networks in Europe and beyond, you are making assumptions which you cannot back up with facts or can you?In any case a readable rant , much of which I agree with.

  14. This is good news. I want Aouar at the club. Next is Raheem Sterling. I would love Sterling at Arsenal.

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