The Arsenal deal for Houssem Aouar is effectively off, after reports that he told Lyon he’d stay and the club ended negotiations on Saturday.

Just when it looked like we might finally get a positive update on the Houssem Aouar-to-Arsenal transfer on Saturday, everything fell apart.

RMC Sport and Telefoot Chaine (via GFFN) announced that Aouar met with the Lyon board to tell them he’d stay with the club this season. He also informed staff of the same. As a result, talks between Arsenal and Lyon ceased.

Aulas told GFFN: “He (Aouar) is staying for one more season.”

Fabrizio Romano reported a slightly different story, that Lyon ended negotiations after Arsenal made it clear they wouldn’t pay €50m. Either way, it’s not looking good.

The one thing that Arsenal fans will continue to cling to is that this could all be a negotiating tactic. Lyon could be feeding information to the press about how the deal is dead to pressure the Gunners into making a bid large enough to revive it.

Personally, I don’t think that’s too likely. The information about Aouar announcing to Lyon that he’ll stay seems a step too far. If you wanted to pressure Arsenal, simply announcing that you won’t negotiate further would do the trick. We’ll see.