Arsenal suffers major transfer blow as Lyon calls off Aouar move

RMC claims that Lyon has put a halt on the sale of their players in this transfer window, dashing Arsenal’s hopes of landing Houssem Aouar before the transfer window closes on Monday.

The 22-year-old has been a target of the Gunners for much of this summer, and they have even tabled a bid for him.

Their 35m euros offer fell short of what Lyon wanted and the Gunners are reportedly planning to return with a better offer.

However, the report claims that Lyon had given players who wanted to move until Friday, later extended to Saturday afternoon as a deadline for them to get their potential buyers to complete the moves.

None of the suitors has come in for Aouar who was reportedly in talks with Juventus on Friday.

As no team was able to come forward with an acceptable offer for any of their players before the deadline that they set, the French side has decided not to negotiate any transfers again this summer.

Aouar is expected to join the team’s training this evening as they prepare for their league game against Olympique Marseille tomorrow.

Arsenal will now have to turn their attention to Thomas Partey and Jorginho, who are also their midfield targets.

Tags Houssem Aouar

118 Comments

  1. I’m not disappointed after I saw Squawka comparison of Aouar’s/ Ceballos’/ Xhaka;s/ Guendouzi’s/ Torreira’s last season stats:

    https://www.squawka.com/en/comparison-matrix/?compare=NG_351shYabGbJeQ0WCGQ

    Ceballos was the best with the highest touches, ball recoveries, assists, chances created, passes attempted, tackles made, take-on success percentage and interception stats, despite playing in less games. If Lyon want 50 M for Houssem Aouar, we could have bought Ceballos for 30 M and have extra 20 M to buy someone else

  2. I’m not disappointed after I saw Squawka comparison of Aouar’s/ Ceballos’/ Xhaka;s/ Guendouzi’s/ Torreira’s last season stats:

    squawka.com/en/comparison-matrix/?compare=NG_351shYabGbJeQ0WCGQ

    Ceballos was the best with the highest touches, ball recoveries, assists, chances created, passes attempted, tackles made, take-on success percentage and interception stats, despite playing in less games. If Lyon want 50 M for Houssem Aouar, we could have bought Ceballos for 30 M and have extra 20 M to buy someone else

    1. I agree on this with you GAI ,like you said we have signed Ceballos who can play further up field where hopefully he plays like so many believe .
      It the Partey deal which is bugging me ,we have needed this kind of player for years and here he is available for 50 mill and we have gone in for him (yet).
      So far it looks like we will make a profit once again while leaving the manager short with the players he need for the coming season .

      1. Ceballos can only showcase his skills if he plays as a CAM behind the striker as what you mentioned. He’s pretty combative in deep midfield area, but I think the likes of Partey, Xhaka, Elneny, Chambers and Guendouzi have higher stamina

        We could have Doucoure who has vast EPL experience for half the price, but Arsenal chose to chase players from abroad again. 60+ M could get us Eduardo Camavinga, a 17 years old left-footed French international DM who could have replaced Xhaka

        1. Arsenal could have bought EPL proven Doucoure from relegated Watford for £20 million. He would have upgraded the Arsenal midfield considerably. Apparently Carlos Ancellotti thought more of him than Mikel Arteta and Everton has the bargain of the transfer window.
          The big worry will be to loan Torreira with no adequate replacement at DM.
          There were so many good midfielders available this window, that Arsenal were connected to but appeared to show no interest in, yet would have improved the Club’s midfield. As well as Doucoure, Szoboszlai, Soumare, Roca, Diawara, Sanson and Traore come to mind.
          Why is Marc Roca good enough to interest Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, yet Arsenal don’t go for a DM, who looks like going to Bayern Munich for about €20 million?
          So much for a plan A, let alone plan B.

          1. May God bless you for this list of midfield players you mentioned, especially Camavinga and Szoboszlai,either of them are less than Aouar’s price tag yet would have improved @Arsenal for the better,bit Arteta chose to focus on Aouar even though you don’t have the money available to buy the player,it will be very sad if @Arsenal cannot sign either of their targets because most of our players are just above average, you cannot win the league with such players and,this season will prove it

    2. Mustafi leads stats a couple of season ago for defenders. Professional clubs are not looking at stats from Squawka.

      1. Mustafi was a very good World Cup winning CB, who made some bad decisions due to Wenger’s and Emery’s bad tactics. He was excellent after last season’s restart and one of the main reasons we could reach FA Cup semifinal last season

        1. save your breath GI, most patrons on this site would
          have you convinced that Mustafi isn’t championship
          level and should be benched in favor of two
          overrated, often injured English players and a dude
          from Spain that hasn’t played a meaningful match
          for the club.

          1. And some patrons have short memories and actually think error prone players that are jokes to the rest of the footballing world are great players just because a stats websites says they are.

        2. Was he good during the 18/19 season? Are you really going to sit here and say he was? C’mon man… Literally the season he became a meme.

      2. Mustafi along with KT post MA taking were our best defenders by a mile.
        It’s pretty obvious now, looking back at the later AW years and the 14 months or so UE was in charge that they had no idea how to coach the defensive side of the game or how to get the team to defend as a unit.
        We wouldn’t have beaten Pool or got the the cup final if it wasnt for some really class defending by Mustafi.
        The trouble is, 90% of fans only remember his mistakes that were made under previous managements.
        The way he was treated by the fans at home games was a disgrace.
        You have to hand it to him how he turned it around and stuck with it.
        Whatever happens with Mustafi i will always applaud his commitment and professionalism he has shown the past season

        1. Didn’t help that Emery had 6 injured defenders to coach and select from.
          Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story.

    3. So when you saw that ceballos had 41 appearances with 2 goals and 3 assists, you thought it was similar to aouar’s 41 appearances with 9 goals and 9 assists? Also, considering aouar is an attacking cm, why would you compare interceptions, ball recoveries and tackles made!? Might as well make this comparison with messi, ceballos would still win in these categories… Surprisingly for some people.

  3. No to Jorginho. We already have one Xhaka, don’t need another.

    Look at thr midfield ffs, no creativity at all.

  4. Surprise,surprise.Not Jorginho,please.Doucoure would have been an excellent acquisition for 20m.A great buy for Everton.

  5. We’re a joke! The club can forget about top 4! You aren’t going far with Xhaka, Elneny and Ceballos.. if they think Arteta is gonna defend and counter attack his way into the champions League with this squad then this is gonna be a real eye opener for them.

    1. 👍 Last Arsenal EPL winning midfield (2003/04) selection 3, or normally 4 of:
      Viera
      Gilberto Silva
      Pires
      Ljundberg
      Parlour
      Edu
      Bentley (played 1 game)
      A young Cesc Fabrigas didn’t get a game and Bergkamp normally played in a 4-4-2 along side Henry, but could drop back to a #10 in midfield.
      That’s what a great EPL winning (2003/04) midfield looks like for those who haven’t seen one at Arsenal.

    1. And our midfield is actually weaker now with torriera going…. and were only getting loan money for him, if any of our midfielders get injured were f#@ked lolabsolutely mugged in this window 😂😢

      1. Reports are saying he passed his medical!
        Absolutely crushed!! Those dreams have turned into nightmares… about that gaping hole in our midfield!!
        Don’t get me wrong, I love Dani.. but Xhaka, Elneny…. dear oh dear…..

          1. 7-8 months is generous. Really it was just the first half of the season at best. Also that was two seasons ago so not really relevant anymore either. Many players have had good starts and then fizzled out quickly.

            1. Was definitely 7-8 months for me mate, and part of the fizzle was UE trying to change him, anyway my point was that we have now weakened are midfield and If we dont replace that is an undeniable fact.

              1. Torreira was relegated to sub appearances since Arteta came in. Sorry but I dont think it’s a big loss. I’m not a big fan of Elneny but even he’s had better performances than Torreira has in probably over a year. It’s not a loss, we need players that can service our forwards which Lucas is not capable of.

                1. I rate Lt but agree he isn’t what Arsenal need in the
                  midfield atm. Even when in the best of form the feisty
                  Uruguyan IMHO lacked the technical acumen and
                  required physicality to dominate the middle of the
                  pitch.WTS I wish him well in La Liga.

                  Even with Aouar supposedly staying @ Lyon, Arsenals
                  midfield would be dramatically improved with the
                  addition of TP or B. Soumare.

                  Both are available, its up to AFC to make it happen.

      2. Defund this is what Arsenal do, make the most bizarre decisions.. the club is like a circus 😂🤡

        1. Yup haha two days to go though so anything can still happen, just have to wait and see, not holding my breath for anyone coming in now though 😢

          1. Unless it’s a last minute trolley dash but doubt it 😂 I think we’ll be told we signed Gabriel plus willian, Soares and Mari and we’ve had a productive window 😩

    2. Haha Sue that’s all us gooners can do is dream 💭😆 oh well looks like we have the backwards and side ways passing to look forward to 😉

        1. I have to make humour out of it because otherwise I’ll just cry 😂😂 that club has lowered my life expectancy 😆 you never know Sue we might just put in a 20 mil +1 pound bid for Zaha to paid over 10 years on Monday you wait and see 🤪

            1. Oh he’ll snap that up 😉🤪 well Sue I think we’ll get the Elneny and Nelson are like new signings lol I hear united closing in on Cavani, alright he’s 33 but he’s proven and our back up is Eddie Nketiah this just proves how weak our squad is 😩

              1. Yeah I mentioned that down there ⬇️
                He’s a beast and I can’t help feeling gutted about that….

          1. We’ll do what we normally do and put a late bid in for someone knowing its to low or to late to get it over the line. Then say oh look we tried. Absolute joke of a club can’t believe we’re going into the season with elneny as first choice cm. Wasn’t even first choice when wenger bought him. What a joke we’ve become! Looking forward to another 8th place finish. Unfortunately I think the fa cup win has harmed us massively as it just papered over some mighty big cracks!!

    3. Arsenal will always remain a joker among premier league teams. Hope of FANS is dashed again.

  6. Brinkmanship writ large. Even more reason to believe Aoure will still come to us. A selling club who were REALLY not interested to sell would say nothing . But they have, which means the transfer is still on.

    Personally though, I WOULD PREFER Partey to Aoure, even though I would lose my bet placed on Aoure coming.

      1. 😂😂😂 I’m still confident but I don’t wanna showcase it or drag anybody into it.
        Aulas is Aulas and I’m not surprised.
        If it happens then it’d have been worth it.
        If it doesn’t then that’s it for me this season.
        But just like Jon, I’m still comfortable we’ll pull it, maybe I’m a clown for it.
        2 days left

        1. All Arsenal had to do was pay the money. Just because Arsenal gives players away, doesn’t mean Aulus at Lyon will do the same?
          Where was Arsenal’s plan B players at lower prices, if their #1 and #2 priorities fell through?

  7. To go through the season with Elneny, Xhaka and Ceballos as our midfield would be a joke. We would scrape 6th if we were lucky. Surely Edu and Arteta have back up ideas. Even the Spuds have managed to get very good players. There are still top Ligue 1 players immediately available, of whom, the best is Boubakary Soumare. 25 mill max. C’mon Edu we can’t face the season with the worst midfield I have seen in 50 years at Arsenal.

  8. So we are to believe that IF our club were to make the extra £4,000,000 bid, cash strapped Lyon would turn it down?

    This is a game of brinkmanship being played out by the two clubs…and let’s remember Aouar has agree terms with The Arsenal and said he wants to play for us (reportedly of course!!!).
    Lyon would hardly want to keep a player who has shown he wants to leave and turn down the fee they requested are they?

    The same goes for Partey by the way – just sit back and cross everything you can physically cross!!!!!

    1. ken, I am currently tied up in knots, but trying to keep a sense of humour, even though at my age, in excruciating pain. I should have taken up yoga. 😢

        1. Well yeah but he can only do that till the window closes in 2 days lol so your out 100 bucks bud 😂

        2. Aye mate I’m still confident we’re getting him, but I ain’t betting no money anymore😂😂😂
          This is Lyon, Aulas!!

          1. Haha aye eddie part of me still thinks we will pull it off but just have to wait and see! Gonna see if the odds bump up on it and stick a cheeky tenner on it, make deadline day a bit more interesting 😎

  9. Aulas wants 50+ M for a common CAM from a peasant league like Aouar, what a joke

    Betis got Nabil Fekir who is faster, left-footed, French international and can play as winger/ CAM for merely 20+ M. Ziyech is another left-footed CAM who just cost around 35+ M

    1. God you’re ignorant.
      Yes, Fekir was very cheap, an exception. But Aouar is a massive talent who’s 22, and whose value is bound to increase while Ziyech is 27 so there’s no resale value, meaning that in the long run – 3 or 4 years – Aouar is almost certainly cheaper.

      That’s also why Soumare could be a better option than Partey. The difference in fee is only 15 M, but if you add the massive difference in future salaries and lowering of resale value of Partey vs the 22 year-old Soumare, the actual difference in 3 years time comes to close to 50 M. No problem if we qualify for the CL regularly, but huge problems if we don’t.

  10. Most likely we will end up with Joginho. It’s Arsenal”s MO that we have seen too many times. I believe they were never in it for Aouar or TP. They did this to excite us just like they have done before in other transfer windows, and their actual target is the yard (garage)sale. This is going to be a toxic relationship once again.

    1. Really toxic relationship, arsenal just knows how to spoil someone’s day. My bet for aouer coming is gone, am so gutted, we’re in for one hell of season if we don’t at least sign Thomas partey

  11. To be honest I never buy the hype about this guy, I mean 50million for a midfielder who most of us have probably never heard of before the champions league last season, all I ever wanted is a Partey kind of player. If we are being honest, 50million is a bit too much for this guy, my opinion.

    1. You’re not wrong Leno haha. Even when watching the UCL games Caqueret was the more impressive midfielder for me. More sad that Arteta really wanted him and he’s not getting him. And that our backup is Jorginho. If it was a player of a similar profile that we had found cheaper I’d be fine with it. But i’ll be really gutted if we end up with Jorginho at Arsenal.

      1. But then would Lyon sign Paqueta if they weren’t losing a midfielder?
        With no European games to play.
        Fabrizio said Arsenal had plans to go back with a bid during the next 48hrs even though they have no plan of bidding up to 60

        1. I think they are also trying to get rid of Reine-Adelaide so that could be the reason. Also, we are a club with eight CB’s right now, so it’s not far-fetched that Lyon bought Paqueta simply because they wanted another midfielder.

        2. Eddie I thought you don’t believe what Fabrizio says. You said he doesn’t know anything some days ago.

      1. Thomas Partey for a guaranteed (no negotiation) €50 million, in comparison to Aouar, was a no brainer for what he would bring to Arsenal’s midfield.
        As for Jorginho, NO THANKS!

  12. Not good.
    To go through the season with Elneny, Xhaka and Ceballos as our midfield would be a joke. We would scrape 6th if we were lucky. Surely Edu and Arteta have back up ideas. Even the Spuds have managed to get very good players. There are still top Ligue 1 players immediately available, of whom, the best is Boubakary Soumare. 25 mill max. C’mon Edu we can’t face the season with the worst midfield I have seen in 50 years at Arsenal.

  13. My God, if we had Marcelo Bielsa in charge, sure deal we’d be fighting for the title.

    Leeds schooling City at their own game.

    I said small teams are starting to muster the rules of the modern game; the press & quick passing

    And people keep having delusions of making top 4???

    1. Herbz Bielsa is a master at the pressing game, the man just gave city a footballing lesson. City were lucky to come out with a point.

      1. I keep telling people on here that until we reach such energy levels of pressing and passing, I won’t consider us as having made any progress….

        Surprisingly, it’s not about headlessly buying players;

        Yes buy players, but you have to have a SYSTEM in place to accommodate them.
        Otherwise all the new players will look out of place. This system is not there yet.

  14. OT Just watched by far the BEST game so far this season, LEEDS 1 CITY 1. If a single game this season is THIS GOOD it can only be the return fixture I’d say!

    1. Jon Fox that was a football lesson given to city by Leeds, that Leeds team are so good at pressing.

    2. Yes Jon, i have really enjoyed watching Leeds so far this season and they were exceptional today.
      I’m not looking forward to entertaining them on November 21st

  15. MA can move Ceballus forward to play behind the striker if he want creativity or bring back ozil since the acquisition this Lyon guy is no long possible.

    He will only need a very good dm to protect our defence. Xhaka and elneny are a burden to the defence with their backward and side way passes.
    Xhaka is even worse, I wonder what he brings to the team. I don’t know arsenal failed to consider doucoure, Cantwell is another good CM. I don’t know why teams are not going for him

    1. Ceballus and creativity do not see eye to eye. Saka will be a better option IMHO. As for Ozil, only if you let him play his game and not ask him to press and defend. In that case he is better than all of them.
      I doubt Ozil will ever regain his status. Egos are stacked against him.

      1. To play Ozil you would need Partey (box to box) plus a DM like Soumare/Roca/Sanson to do his ball winning and tackling for him.

  16. Has anyone thought of Emiliano Buendia as a much cheaper creative midfielder option, who has premier league experience. Although, playing in a weak Norwich city team, he was ranked 7th for the most assists in the premier league last year.

  17. How I wish arteta can be bold to play the Leeds way, and please don’t say Leeds has better players than us. If Arteta can play Ceballos a little further up the pitch and get a real Dm, Arsenal will be unstoppable, for goodness sake we have the best striker in the league, we have very good wingers, we have an okay defense and a good keeper who is good at stopping shots, all we need now is a strong Dm and our coach to be more positive in his tactics. And please stop using Pepe at the right side he’s a left footed winger, at the end of last season he played well in the left side.

    1. What a team Leeds are!! Always said they’ll be just fine in the PL…. so entertaining and so much character! Love Ayling and Phillips! Hats off to Bielsa (& his bucket!!)

      1. Agree Sue. I always enjoyed their games even before the relegation.
        They missed a one on one with the keeper so they had a chance to win it.

    2. Completely agree Leno, I don’t like the brand of football we are playing if this continues I might just give up watching the match. It’s boring as hell. Why do we have to play like scared kid in a park. We are a big club with a lot of history and specific playing style. We should go into matches scared and make other side look ridiculous good like we are playing Barcelona. I think MA has left pep and Wenger’s chat group and joined UE’s chat group or he is taking advise from Morinhio.

      1. I keep saying these midfielders are not good enough to play this way.
        Bielsa is recognised as a great coach by all his peers and he doesn’t tolerate fools gladly. He wouldn’t have come to Arsenal, let alone stay because he wouldn’t put up with the incompetence above him.

  18. Why don’t Leeds need to sign a 50m player or two to have more possession and shots than us against Liverpool and City?

    Seems like the most competitive style of play in the modern game is high pressing and counterpressing creates more chances than conventional creativity

    1. Exactly bro, I really want the board to support arteta but till now I still don’t know arteta pattern of play, maybe it’s a counter attacking style or a possession based football. Against Liverpool in the carabao cup, Liverpool dominated us with a 19 years old kid and we used Ceballos el neny Xhaka🥺I love arteta and I really want him to succeed but he needs to be brave.

      1. I want Arteta to succeed too. I hope he develops a formidable system and becomes a master like Bielsa.

        Arteta has made us more competitive and harder to break down. We try to press, but much less coordinated, consistent and purposeful than Leeds.

        While we use pressing to deter our opponents, Leeds use it as a form of attack. Once they win the ball deep in the opposition’s half, they are on a “fast break”. They don’t need a creative number 10 to create chances, their pressing takes care of that. Their system, like Liverpool’s, is absolutely impressive

  19. Just let Guendouzi play and show his worth.
    At times he was our best player and he can be a great talent for the future.
    Arteta should show him some faith and give him another chance.

      1. What so funny??? He did carry the team alone and did not hide in some of the matches when UE was incharge. Boy is a talent but fans like you won’t see that because you like players who are not talented but run them selves into ground without having any impact what so ever.

  20. It’s like this, if the HA deal is off, take the 32mil lbs you offered for HA, put it together with what you had to offer for TP and trigger the damn release clause for TP and be done with it, it’s that simple

        1. 👍 👍 👍 “A backup plan” with 2 days to go! What comes after A in the alphabet for Plan __? 🤔🤪

  21. Said Benhrama, Todd Can’t well, Buendia, Szobolozai. These are midfielders we can get for less. We allow Sangare leave for 15m. Trust the process. We are winning the League title this season. Just trust the process.

    1. He was how to put it politely not big club player even when he was playing Sue. We should sign Santi back, even with one leg he would do far more then our current midfield.

      1. I was only jesting, Mohsan.. yes Santi is still banging them in.. I’m not in for stop gaps, but would’ve been happy to have had him for a season..

    2. Sue, just to remind people what a great midfield selection (3 or 4 from those below) looks like (Arsenal 2003/04):
      Viera
      Gilberto Silva
      Pires
      Ljundberg
      Parlour
      Edu
      Bentley (played 4 game)
      A young Cesc Fabrigas didn’t play a game and if an extra forward was required Bergkamp could drop into midfield as a #10.
      As you, I and others know, that’s the balance and quality of midfield it takes to win the League, the last time Arsenal did it.

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