Houssem Aouar to Arsenal transfer: £20m fee, offer made, agent drama, Tottenham deliver blow


A year on from when Arsenal were first showing an interest in signing Lyon midfielder Houssem Aouar, reports linking the Frenchman with a move to the Emirates Stadium have once again resurfaced.

Gunners manager Mikel Arteta is desperate to transform his squad at the Emirates Stadium this summer and get several new faces through the door.

Among the positions that are in need of strengthening most is the central attacking midfield berth. Following Martin Odegaard’s return to Real Madrid at the end of his loan spell, the Gunners are now light on options in that particular area of the team and are keen to add a new face to bolster that area.

Numerous names have been linked with a move to north London to fill Odegaard’s shoes, including Leicester City star James Maddison. But with the Foxes poised to demand around £60million for his signature, it remains to be seen if Arsenal could fund a deal for him and land other targets they have in mind.

With that said, Aouar could be a suitable alternative. Here, football.london has taken a close look at everything we know so far concerning the Frenchman’s future.

£20m price

In June, it was reported by The Sun that Arsenal were preparing themselves to launch a fresh bid to try and bring Aouar to north London this summer.

The highly-rated midfield architect, who was heavily linked with a move to the Emirates Stadium a year ago, before the Gunners opted to sign Thomas Partey instead, could leave Lyon this summer following the club’s failure to reach the 2021/22 UEFA Champions League.

It was claimed that their failure to get into Europe’s top club competition would see Aouar’s price slashed to just £20million, representing a potential bargain buy for any suitor.

While the Gunners are reportedly keen on signing him this summer, their inability to offer European football could be a problem.


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Aouar agent response

Arsenal fans took to social media on Friday excited as they thought Aouar’s brother, who is his agent, was in London to discuss a move to the Emirates stadium.

However, journalist Bilel Ghazi denied these claims, taking to his Twitter account to post: “Except that it is not the brother of Houssem Aouar. Just a friend.”

Aouar himself showed that Ghazi was right by deciding to retweet the statement via his own account, causing Gunners’ faithful to voice their frustrations at the situation as they clearly want to sign the 23-year-old.

He then took to Instagram to further refute the rumours via a story stating: “Guys leave him. He is one of my best friends, not my real brother. By the way… not my agent also.”

Arsenal make opening ‘offer’

Despite Aouar quashing rumours suggesting that he was eager to leave the Ligue 1 club, Arsenal have now lodged a formal bid for the Frenchman.

That is according to Le 10 Sport, who claim the Gunners have submitted a ‘formal offer’ and that talks are ‘progressing well’.

According to the report, the Gunners hope to sign Aouar for somewhere between £17million and £21.4million.

Tottenham join race

New Spurs’ boss Nuno Espirito Santo reportedly wants to bring a creative midfielder to the team this summer as he aims to bridge the gap between the north London side and last season’s top four.

The summer window is officially open, and it’s going to be tough to keep up with the comings and goings in and out of the Emirates.

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French outlet Le 10 Sport claims that the Portuguese coach may try to hijack Arsenal’s deal for Aouar after joining the race for his signature.

The Lilywhites have seemingly already beaten their rivals to a mutual transfer target this summer as football.london understands they are keen to wrap up a deal for Bologna defender Takehiro Tomiyasu, who reportedly has garnered interest from Mikel Arteta.





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