Charles Watts, who reports on Arsenal for Goal, recently posted a Q&A video on his YouTube channel and during that video, the journalist spent some time talking about the Gunners’ chances of signing Houssem Aouar.
Aouar has been linked with a move away from Lyon recently. The midfielder played a significant role in helping Les Gones to reach the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League semi-finals, as he delivered an impressive performance in Lyon’s quarter-final win over Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, providing an assist and earning the highest overall rating (7.91) of any Lyon player in that game, according to WhoScored.
It may be fair to say that the £44.55m-rated 22-year-old’s performance versus City was not a one-off, as he also ended his 2019/20 campaign as Lyon’s highest-rated player (7.55) in the UEFA Champions League, whilst having also played the fifth-highest amount of Champions League minutes (715) of any Lyon player for the 2019/20 season.
Manchester City have been linked with a move for Aouar recently, as have the Gunners, who have ‘already held talks with Lyon’s sporting director Juninho’ regarding Aouar, according to ESPN.
During his recent YouTube video, Watts had this to say about the possibility of Aouar moving to the Emirates: “I’m not sure about Aouar, I have to say.
“I’ve seen the links, there are lots of them, I’m sure he’s a player that Arsenal are absolutely looking at, because he’s a very good player, we’ve seen that in the Champions League already, but there’s an awful lot of interest in him from elsewhere as well.
“I just think it’s one that’s going to be a little bit out of Arsenal’s price range, especially given his form for Lyon in this run to the Champions League semi-finals, so I’m not sure if that’s one that Arsenal are going to be able to get done.”
Do Arsenal have a chance of signing Aouar?
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So, while Watts acknowledged that Aouar is “a very good player” who the Gunners are likely to be “looking at,” the journalist did also share doubt over the north London club’s chances of signing the Frenchman, due to the amount of interest in the player from other clubs, as well as the player’s price tag.
We also believe that the fact that the Gunners are not going to be competing in the 2020/21 UEFA Champions League will hurt their chances of signing Aouar ahead of clubs like Manchester City, who are also said to be interested in the player and are going to be competing in next season’s Champions League.
As a result, we share Watts’ uncertainty about the Gunners’ chances of signing the Lyon man.