Pep Guardiola is prepared to battle with Arsenal for the signature of talented Lyon midfielder, Houssem Aouar, Mirror Sports reports.
The young Frenchman has been one of the best midfielders around Europe over the past few seasons.
His fine performance in the Champions League this season helped Lyon reach the semi-final of the competition.
Lyon is known as a selling club and they have set a value of £54 million for the 22-year-old.
Arsenal has been interested in him this summer and the Gunners even attempted to sign him by using Matteo Guendouzi as a sweetener in the move.
Lyon doesn’t want the Arsenal man and they swiftly rejected the proposal, but Arsenal remains keen.
With the transfer window remaining open, the Gunners still have time to return with an improved offer, but they face tough competition from Manchester City now.
Guardiola is a known admirer of the midfielder and the report claims that he will try to beat Arteta to his signing.
Lyon Chief, Juninho has confirmed that Manchester City are interested in signing the player and they may have been in contact via agents.
He said as quoted by the Mirror: “We were not directly contacted. Maybe [director general] Vincent Ponsot was contacted by Manchester City, I am not sure.
“It is like that with these two teams, two enormous teams who play to win the Champions League every year, they have the capacity for that and that makes any player dream.
“I don’t know if Houssem is ready to change project for a big Ligue 1 team like PSG.
“For City, of course Guardiola likes the player, but is that the profile that they are looking for today? We don’t know that either and we have not received any official offers.”
