Speaking recently on The Ornstein and Chapman Podcast, David Ornstein provided an update on Arsenal’s pursuit of Olympique Lyon central midfielder, Houssem Aouar.
Since making his Lyon debut as an 18-year-old back in 2017, Aouar has gone on to make 137 appearances for his home town club, scoring 24 goals and providing 27 assists along the way.
The £44.55 million-rated midfielder highly impressed last season, scoring three goals and providing four assists over his 25 appearances in Ligue 1, averaging a highly impressive WhoScored match rating of 7.02, as well as bagging a further goal and four assists during Lyon’s run to the semi-final of the Champions League, over which he averaged a WhoScored match rating of 7.55.
These performances appear to have caught the eye of several clubs, with both Manchester City and Arsenal reportedly keen on bringing the 22-year-old to the Premier League. The Gunners are even said to have made a £31.2 million, plus a player, offer for Aouar, however, this appears to have been rejected by the French side.
Speaking on The Ornstein and Chapman Podcast, Ornstein provided an update on Arsenal’s interest in the midfielder, with the journalist suggesting that the Gunners’ manager, Mikel Arteta, very much likes the look of Aouar.
He said: “We’ve got a month to go in the transfer window and Arsenal have also held some level of discussions around the Lyon creative midfielder, Houssem Aouar. It’s going to be a difficult one because of the price, we know he’s a player that Mikel Arteta and Arsenal hugely admire. There’s a lot still to play out.”
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From Ornstein’s comments, then, it is clear that the journalist is of the belief that Arsenal and Arteta are very much interested in making a move for the midfielder this summer.
Although Ornstein also states that the deal may be tricky because of the money involved, it is our opinion that Aouar would be well worth a large fee, as, from his statistics last season, the 22-year-old appears to be a very talented footballer and one who seems to have the potential to massively improve the Arsenal midfield.