Houssem Aouar to Arsenal latest

was last updated 28 November 2020

28/11/2020

Houssem Aouar’s refusal to join a warm down session after Lyon’s tie against Angers has forced the Ligue 1 side to punish him, and therefore he will miss this weekend’s tie against Reims. [Sport Witness]

27/11/2020

Arsenal were ‘too timid’ in their bid for Houssem Aouar [L’Equipe]

26/10/2020

Arsenal are reportedly still interested in signing Houssem Aouar when the January transfer window opens despite missing out on the playmaker during the summer.

As Arsenal crashed all too predictably against a Leicester side that came to smash and grab using a tried and tested technique of packing their defence and just waiting for Arsenal to hand them the points, it was clear that creativity is a massive problem in the side.

With Mesut Ozil frozen out for reasons that are obviously nothing to do with football, Arsenal are left looking towards youngsters to effect change.

It is therefore no surprise to read that Arsenal are supposedly still interested in signing Aouar, however they apparently face competition from Juventus.

Why Aouar’s move to Arsenal fell through

Arsenal landed Thomas Partey from Atletico Madrid on deadline day, but Houssem Aouar ended up as the one that got away.

With Atletico Madrid refusing to negotiate and the Thomas Partey deal on hold as a result, Arsenal started to look into a move for Houssem Aouar. The Athletic reported that the Gunners were ‘confident’ of securing a deal.

Technical director Edu was in regular talks with Lyon’s Juninho but The Athletic suggested Arsenal’s mistake was in completely bypassing Jean-Michel Aulas.

As a result, when they submitted offers, they were well short of Aulas’ expectations. When Aulas set deadlines, the Gunners weren’t ready to meet them. By the closing stages of the window, Aouar was having second thoughts.

After all, in the final days of the last week of the window, the likes of Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid were publicly showing their appreciation of Aouar, whilst also insisting a deal wouldn’t happen until next summer.

Another year at Lyon followed by a move to a club certain to be in the Champions League was apparently more appealing than the uncertainty of Arteta’s project. Regardless of how exciting that uncertainty may be for fans. Or was before they played Leicester.

In Arsenal’s defence, I’m not sure you can blame them for hesitating to offer €50m. It would have meant a €100m outlay on two players in a current summer of financial difficulties that already required Stan Kroenke to put his hand in his pocket. That’s without any major sales agreed, bar Emi Martinez.

Given the failure to sell anyone most of the players we wanted rid of, spending that much could’ve left Arsenal in real financial trouble. Unfortunately, their hesitation seemingly left enough time for Aouar to change his mind. That was what ultimately killed the deal.

“I am happy, this is my city and this my club,” Aouar told Telefoot while on International duty with France.

“I am proud to represent this club, I have so much motivation to make a great season.

“We made a choice, I’m happy to stay here. Aulas and Juninho convinced me to stay in Lyon.”

11/10/20

Brahim Aouar should take a large portion of the blame for the collapse of his brother Houssem’s move to Arsenal, according to a report.

ESPN report that Brahim Aouar asked Arsenal for a large commission to sign his brother. Reports in France suggest as much as £10m, though ESPN haven’t confirmed that figure, and Brahim didn’t respond to their request for comment.

It wasn’t just Arsenal. Brahim wanted the same commission from any club signing Houssem. He made negotiations sufficiently difficult that none of the likes of Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain seriously pursued a deal.

From the midfielder’s point of view, he wanted to leave this summer. Lyon ended up persuading him to stay, even though his heart was set on Arsenal.

The Gunners completed a move for one of their key midfield targets, at least, bringing in Thomas Partey. It’s just a shame the other deal fell through due to unreasonable agent fees.

Personally, I doubt we’ll see Arsenal going back for Aouar in January. The financial situation is unlikely to be significantly different in two-and-a-half months, and it’s likely we won’t have any guarantees about full fan returns to stadiums or Arsenal qualifying for European competition by then.

By next summer, who knows? It really depends on how the season goes, and whether Aouar starts seriously catching the eye in Paris and Madrid. Arsenal should probably look at plenty of alternative targets just in case.

4/10/20 Houssem Aouar Arsenal update

Houssem Aouar has reportedly told Lyon he’s staying which works out well for them as they’d already said he wasn’t leaving anyway.

According to RMC, Houssem Aouar has told his club that he’s planning to stay with the Ligue 1 side.

This may or may not be connected to Zinedine Zidane saying that the player could play for Real Madrid ‘one day’.

“I don’t know what information you have about him [Aouar],” Zidane told reporters.

“He’s a great player, I have no doubt about that.

“Maybe one day he could play at Real Madrid, but right now we have this squad and we’re going to go forward with the players we have.”

This has, of course, been spun as a ‘devastating blow’ for Arsenal but the truth is, this deal seems to have been dying for a few days now. AS believe Aouar is Zidane’s ‘new obsession’ which he clearly isn’t. They also believe Real Madrid will offer Mariano Diaz to force a move this summer, despite what he just said. The Daily Mail, meanwhile, believe he will be part of a massive recruitment drive by the Spanish giants next summer.

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 after they set a deadline for offers which passed on Friday. Aouar reportedly also informed staff of the same. As a result, talks between Arsenal and Lyon ceased.

Fabrizio Romano, however, reported a slightly different story, that Lyon ended negotiations after Arsenal made it clear they wouldn’t pay €50m.

Whatever the truth, it seems incredibly unlikely Arsenal will be signing Aouar and they go into the final 24 hours of the window desperately needing at least one midfielder.

3/10/20 Houssem Aouar Arsenal update

RMC are reporting that Houssem Aouar will stay at Lyon while journalist Romain Molina believes Aouar’s brother played a role in messing up the possibility of a move this summer.

Arsenal have be the side mostly heavily linked with Houssem Aouar this summer and while others have been briefly linked, it is the Gunners who have been seen as the frontrunners and the club most keen on getting thier hands on him.

Now, it seems like that won’t be happening as RMC report:

Breaking | Houssem Aouar & Memphis Depay are staying at Lyon, the club announces to RMC Sport. All negotiations off.
— Get French Football News (@GFFN) October 3, 2020

In addition, Romain Molina, who has been at the forefront of this rumour, had quite a lot to say on Twitter about Aouar’s brother. “Laughable the media circus around Aouar. Like Cavani, his brother shot a bunch of negotiations by dint of talking to the whole world,” Molina said.

“Nothing against him, but it’s reality. I understand that everyone is looking for something to eat, but being a (good) agent is a job

“And that goes for Walter, with all the affection I have for him, who has sacked his good image in the industry and who is going to run as hard as possible to make deals in Europe from now on.

“He had totally abused requests for Edinson (who did anything too).

“To come back to Aouar, ask yourself the question: why are Arsenal currently the only team to have made an offer? Why do we send so many articles / rumors ordered to activate things? It is not the talent of the player the problem, nor the price requested by Lyon.

“Once again, I understand the family (it’s a bastard world, so it makes sense to want to eat).

“It’s just that when you get invited here and there and promise things to agents and you say the same thing to other agents behind their backs, it comes back to you
Note: agents often involve a family member in deals (or a friend) in order to “hold” the player.

“If no one eats, another agent / club will take advantage and the entourage is what is most effective to turn a player’s brain.”

3/10/20

L’Equipe are reporting that Real Madrid are now interested in Houssem Aouar.

They write, “Zinédine Zidane, the French coach of Real Madrid, greatly appreciates the profile of Houssem Aouar (OL). The two men spoke very recently, but the operation will not be easy to complete.”

Obviously, Real Madrid being interested makes it harder for Arsenal in terms of both money and as a destination.

Arsenal are still in talks for Lyon midfielder Houssem Aouar, but with no agreement and less optimism around the deal right now.

Fabrizio Romano reports that Arsenal are still in talks for Aouar, but without finding an agreement with Lyon. Julien Laurens confirms that there’s no breakthrough yet, and adds that there’s less optimism now, with a deal looking ‘complicated’.

Laurens mentions Jorginho as a player coming back into the conversation as a result. Sky Sports linked Arsenal to the Chelsea midfielder last week. But that one didn’t seem to be going anywhere, with the player’s agent denying the existence of offers.

Matt Law of the Daily Telegraph is seemingly confirming the interest, however. The journalist who regularly reports on Chelsea told the London Is Blue Podcast: “The interest from Arsenal for Jorginho is real. It’s very real!

“I think Arsenal are probably going to sign Aouar and Jorginho’s not their first choice. Arsenal have got Jorginho on a list of three. It’s real, I was told not to discount a possibility of a very late loan on him, if Arsenal can’t get what else they want.”

To me, this rumour is still a bit bizarre. I can’t figure out why Chelsea would loan a regular starter to Arsenal, helping their rivals out. Unless the loan has an obligation to buy and Chelsea plan to reinvest immediately, it doesn’t make sense.

As for Aouar, we can only hope Arsenal find the breakthrough they’re looking for in the next day or so.

23/9/20

Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas says Arsenal are still too far from meeting their valuation for Houssem Aouar, after the Gunners’ first formal bid this week.

Arsenal made their first formal bid for Houssem Aouar this week, but Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas suggests they’ll need to offer a lot more to get him.

Telefoot Chaine initially reported the bid, claiming on their TV broadcast that Arsenal were offering “around €40m, might be a bit less, might be a bit more”. They also claim the player agreed provisional terms to join the Gunners.

RMC confirmed the bid, but they put the figure at around €35m. ESPN’s Julien Laurens also went with the €35m figure, adding that it wouldn’t be enough. But Arsenal will come back with another offer for Aouar, who wants to join them.

Conversely, L’Equipe sided with Telefoot Chaine in claiming it was a €40m bid. Either way, it’s some way short of the €60m Lyon were initially asking for.

However, ESPN suggest Lyon may now lower those demands. French outlet Sport also write that Aulas is holding out for €50m.

All the same, president Aulas is taking a public stance that Arsenal need to increase their bid significantly. He posted the L’Equipe article and added that the offer was “too far from [Aouar’s] value”, before writing that Lyon are counting on the midfielder this season.

Transferts : Houssem Aouar (OL) d’accord avec Arsenal – ⁦@OL⁩ ⁦:il y aura très peu de départs: pour Houssem Arsenal est bcp trop éloigné de sa valeur: on compte sur lui pour faire un grand match à Lorient et mener l’OL en CL l’année prochaine 👍 https://t.co/8SUKIHLcLJ

— Jean-Michel AULAS (@JM_Aulas) September 26, 2020

Aulas always acts like this in the market, so I wouldn’t panic yet. In 2017, he denied Arsenal were bidding for Alexandre Lacazette a couple of weeks before the move became official. This time around, we have nine days to sort things out before deadline day.

23 September 2020

Arsenal are reportedly preparing a second bid for Houssem Aouar after their first bid was deemed ‘insufficient’ according to a report from France.

Le10Sport report that Arsenal have made Houssem Aouar their top priority during this window and with three players close to the exit door that could net Arsenal around £40m, he could well become an Arsenal player this summer.

In addition, Arsenal have their Emi Martinez money burning a hole in their pockets.

This news would be a contradiction of reports earlier this week which claimed Arsenal hadn’t even made a first bid for the 22-year-old, never mind getting ready to make a second.

There are even claims that Arsenal are playing the waiting game in order to drive down his price.

Arsenal are preparing a bid for Houssem Aouar once they sell Lucas Torreira, with the midfielder remaining their ‘top target’ this window.

18 September 2020 Houssem Aouar Arsenal update

Speaking on the Gab and Juls ESPN podcast, Julien Laurens suggested Arsenal would make a serious bid for summer target Lyon midfielder Houssem Aouar once they find a buyer for Lucas Torreira.

Houssem Aouar has reportedly told Lyon he wants to leave the club this summer and Arsenal are still the only club to have made an official approach for him.

Reportedly wanted by Manchester City and Juventus, Arsenal are the only club to have made an actual proposal too Aouar’s club when they asked if they fancied taking Matteo Guendouzi off our hands along with some play money and Lyon laughed.

L’Equipe now report that Lyon are growing to accept that they will have to reluctantly accept they will have to sell Aoura bu they want €60m for him and don’t seem best inclined to take anything less.

Still, the closer the end of the transfer window gets and the more it looks like they might be lumped with an unhappy player, the more they might consider their position.

Lyon reportedly block Arsenal’s offer of cash plus a player to sign Houssem Aouar and now Pep Guardiola and Manchester City want to get involved.

According to the Daily Mail on 10 September, Manchester City are “‘set to battle Arsenal to £54m signing of Lyon midfielder Houssem Aouar’ with Pep Guardiola desperate to steal Frenchman away from former assistant Mikel Arteta.”

HOUSSEM AOUAR ARSENAL UPDATE

Arsenal and Edu are reportedly locked in talks with Lyon trying to sign Houssem Aouar for Mikel Arteta.

According to L’Equipe, Arsenal made a bid of £25m plus Matteo Guendouzi last week. That wasn’t accepted.

Lyon only want cash.

That might benefit Manchester City who also want him and have a lot of cash.

Le10Sport in France claim Aouar would quite like a move to Juventus if he had the choice. Fabrizio Romano reports that there’s currently ‘nothing’ in the links between Aouar and Juventus, who were meant to be one of the main contenders for his signing.

Aouar’s Juventus desire would also exclude the Premier League move he’s said to want. Romano adds that Aouar certainly wants to move to the Premier League. Though no one is offering the €60m required to get it done yet.

Abdellah Boulma agrees that Aouar would prefer to play in a Premier League club, with Manchester City and Arsenal the leading contenders. Boulma gives a slightly different asking price of €50m but suggests Lyon won’t negotiate for less.

As things stand, Arsenal are reportedly the only club to make formal contact with Lyon over the signing of Houssem Aouar, the aforementioned swap deal inolving Matteo Guendouzi.

Football.London report that Edu is ‘locked in talks’ regarding the signing.

Houssem Aouar Videos

Houssem Aouar vitals

• Age: 22
• Position: Central midfield
• Secondary positions: Attacking midfield, left midfield
• Foot: Right
• Agent: Wasserman
• Contract until: 2023
• Market value: £44.55m
• International: Capped at u17 and u21 level for France. Also holds Algerian citizenship.
• Brand: Adidas

Houssem Aouar Arsenal update

What else the journalists in the know say about Houssem Aouar to Arsenal

“The Arsenal board is in love with Aouar, Mikel Arteta is in love with Aouar, so for sure they will try,” Fabrizio Romano said.

“I think it’s difficult about Auoar, because we were talking about €50 million for Thomas Partey, if we’re speaking about Aouar, we’re around €60 or €70 million so I think it would be so difficult to take Aouar.”

From the Daily Cannon Archive Nov 7, 2017

The 19-year-old midfielder is another graduate of the Lyon academy and has been making strides in their first-team this season.

As he was rising through the ranks, he had Alexandre Lacazette, another Lyon academy graduate, to look up to.

He remains in regular contact with the striker, and has explained he’s been a big help in helping him settle into first team life.

“He wrote to me a lot. He explained to me that all the great players have gone through difficult times in their careers,” Aouar said, as reported by Tribal Football.

“As soon as I joined the squad, Alex took me under his wing. We did not cut the contact after his departure and he was there at times when it was a little more difficult to cheer me up and motivate me for the future.”

Aouar made his first-team debut for Lyon in the qualifying rounds of the Europa League last season. He went on to make his league debut towards the end of the season, playing left wing in a game at Bastia.

This season (17/18), he’s become a first-team regular. The Lyon midfielder has 10 appearances in all competitions, with seven of them coming in Ligue 1. It won’t be long until he’s being linked with every top club in Europe, in my opinion.

He can play in the middle of the park or on the left flank, and is a very technical player. Aouar was born in Lyon, but is of Algerian descent and could choose to play for Algeria instead.