Arsenal are currently the only club to make an offer for Lyon midfielder Houssem Aouar, presenting a cash-plus-player deal to the French club.

According to L’Equipe (via Matt Spiro), Lyon expect to sell Houssem Aouar this summer, but they only have one offer from Arsenal at this stage. The Gunners bid €25m plus Matteo Guendouzi, which the Ligue 1 side didn’t respond to.

This is a slight difference from previous reports from the same source, claiming that Lyon rejected the Guendouzi offer. Now the line is that they just didn’t respond to it. Essentially it amounts to the same thing, but it’s less conclusive.

There’s going to be competition for the signing, though. Manchester City and Juventus are keen on him, whilst Lyon are hoping the player’s valuation is now closer to €60m than €40m following his Champions League performances.

The 22-year-old certainly made a big impression in the knockout stages. He provided two assists against Manchester City and two in two games against Juventus, but his all-around performances were just as eye-catching as those moments in front of goal.

Overall, Aouar scored nine and assisted 10 for Lyon in 2019/20, from 41 appearances. Perhaps surprisingly, he put up six goal contributions in 25 league games, but 13 in 16 games in all other competitions.

Aside from one goal against Bourg-en-Bresse, all of those 13 came against Ligue 1 opposition or Champions League opponents. So it’s not as if the French u21 international was racking up the goals and assists in easy games. He just clearly enjoyed the knockout matches this year.

I don’t think there’s any doubt he’d make a top addition to Arsenal this summer. We know Lyon drive a hard bargain though, particularly when they know they can spark a bidding war. I wouldn’t get your hopes up quite yet.