Liverpool favourites ahead of Man Utd to sign £30m ace after Arsenal’s offer rejected

Liverpool have emerged as favourites ahead of Arsenal and Manchester United to sign Houssem Aouar after Lyon increased their asking price to around £30m, according to Le10 Sport.

Aouar has been with Lyon his entire professional career after coming through their youth system as a child and he’s gone on to become a key first team player having contributed 32 goals and 31 assists in his 170 appearances.

However, the Ligue 1 outfit need to sell some players to help balance the books due to financial difficulties and it’s led to speculation linking Aouar with a move to the Premier League this summer.

Arsenal were the early front-runners with Le10 Sport claiming earlier this month that the Gunners had tabled an opening offer worth no more than £17m [€20m] after renewing their interest in the 23-year-old.

Mikel Arteta is in the market for a creative midfielder to replace Martin Odegaard – who’s returned to Real Madrid following his loan spell – and Aouar is back on Arsenal’s radar after they failed to sign the Frenchman last summer.

However, Le10 Sport are now reporting that Arsenal have stalled their pursuit after their offer was rejected by Lyon with the French club now sensing a bidding war after several other English clubs joined the race for Aouar’s signature.

According to the report, Lyon had initially set an asking price at around £21.5m [€25m] but have now increased their valuation to up to £30m [€30m] after the likes of Liverpool, Man Utd and Tottenham expressed an interest.

Le10 Sport names Liverpool as the new favourites to sign Aouar as Man Utd will only move for the player if and when Paul Pogba leaves while Tottenham’s interest is dependent on Harry Kane successfully forcing a move this summer.

That leaves Liverpool in a strong position as Jurgen Klopp is in the market for midfield reinforcements after losing Gini Wijnaldum to Paris Saint-Germain and it appears the German coach is eyeing Aouar as a replacement.

Lyon boss Peter Bosz wants to keep the French international but president Jean-Michel Aulas will be forced to cash-in if a £30m offer arrives and Liverpool should have no trouble paying that sort of fee for a player of Aouar’s quality.

We’ll have to wait and see how things develop as things can change quickly with so many clubs in the running but Aouar would be an excellent signing for whoever ends up winning the race for his signature.