Tottenham have emerged as contenders to sign Lyons Houssem Aouar and join Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain and Atletico Madrid in the race for the Frenchman.
Aouar has been tipped to move from Les Gones for a number of seasons now, with speculation intensifying late after reports that he had not returned to training before the season as planned.
The midfielder took to social media to deny that he had joined AWOL and revealed that he had actually been forced to hospital due to illness, but speculation about his future remains.
Peter Bosz is a big fan of Aouar and is keen to keep the midfielder, but the newly appointed Les Gones boss is aware of the need to generate transfer funds before the club will sanction all newcomers – which means Aouar’s departure looks increasingly likely.
Lyon previously quoted a figure of 40 million euros (34.2 million pounds) when Arsenal left their interest in the 23-year-old last summer, although the ongoing financial crisis in French football means that he can now be available for as little as 25 million euros (£ 21.3m).
News of his availability has not gone unnoticed throughout Europe and Le10 Sport reports that Spurs are the latest club to show interest in Aouar, just a few weeks after Arsenal resumed their quest.
PSG and Atletico Madrid are also keeping an eye on the midfield, which means that Lyon may be able to benefit from a bidding war because they seem to be generating so much money from a possible sale.
The Gunners have already understood that they have submitted a bid for Aouar which was quickly rejected by the Ligue 1 outfit. The exact amount of the bid has not been revealed, but it is assumed to be below 20 million euros (17.1 million pounds), which means that they have a while left before they match Lyons’ valuation of the French international with a cap.
