Long-term Arsenal goal Andre Onana has agreed on personal terms with the French team Lyon during a summer transfer, which gives a huge blow to the Gunners’ ambitions to sign the Ajax star.
The North Londoners hope to complete a squad audit this summer, which included the possibility of replacing current goalkeeper Bernd Leno and bringing in a whole new face in the transfer window.
Onana was a name that was regularly linked to a move to the Emirates Stadium, but those hopes now seem to have been lost. According to the French outlet L’Equipe, the 25-year-old has instead decided to join Lyon this summer and has agreed on personal terms with the Ligue 1 clothes.
Ajax and Lyon have not yet reached an agreement on a suitable transfer fee, but Onana’s desire to leave Amsterdam and join the French side shows that a move to Arsenal is far from his main priority.
The Gunners had come close to concluding a deal for the Cameroonian goalkeeper, but it soon became clear that they were not the only club in the fight against his signature.
And the latest developments indicate that Mikel Arteta has actually missed Onana, with the Ajax star preferring to move to France over a Premier League switch. The goalkeeper is currently serving a nine-month ban from football, after failing a doping test in January 2021.
He was initially given a 12-month ban which was shortened on appeal, which meant he could be back in action by November 2021. Despite his off-field issues, Onana has remained in Arsenal’s plans for the summer transfer window as Arteta looks set to revolutionize his playing squad. for the new season.
Onana will not join Arsenal this summer / BSR Agency / Getty Images
Current first-choice goalkeeper Leno has been tipped for an Emirates exit, although he already admitted in May that he would like to stay with the Gunners and carry them back to the Champions League.
Matteo Guendouzi has already left the club this summer, while Granit Xhaka and Hector Bellerin are both expected to retire in the next few weeks, when a new look for Arsenal begins to take shape.
