Lyon have turned down a £31.2million bid plus a player from Arsenal for Houssem Aouar, according to reports.
The 22-year-old midfielder has been heavily linked with Arsenal and Manchester City this summer. And It is understood that Lyon value Aouar at £45million.
According to French outlet RMC Sport, a £31.2m bid and a player were offered to Ligue 1 side Lyon – and they snubbed the offer.
While not revealing the identity of the player, there are suggestions it could have been Matteo Guendouzi, who has been frozen out of the team by Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta.
Guendouzi has not featured in any game for Arsenal since he allegedly boasted to Brighton players about his superior wages in a 2-1 defeaf at the Amex Stadium on June 20.
Last month, Aouar gave a cryptic response when asked if it would be hard for him to leave Lyon without saying goodbye to supporters.
The midfielder said: “I haven’t left yet, so I haven’t asked this question.”
Aouar repeated his answer when asked if a big-money transfer could affect his chances of making the France national team for next year’s European Championship.
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He added: “I haven’t left yet! “That one is very tough… I want us to start well, and that we beat Dijon, to start with.”
Arsenal have already signed Willian on a free transfer from Chelsea, Lille defender Gabriel Magalhaes for £27m and secured Dani Ceballos on another season-long loan deal from Madrid.
