Olympique Lyonnais have reportedly made an opening bid for AC Milan midfielder Lucas Paqueta, as the Ligue 1 side prepare for the possible departure of Houssem Aouar.
Aouar's outstanding displays for Lyon last season has seen him heavily linked with a move away in the current transfer window, with City, Juventus and Arsenal all touted as potential destinations.
The Gunners are favourites to sign the highly-rated French midfielder, and football.london understands an opening bid for the Lyon captain was rejected, but a second offer of £36.5million (€40million) with a further £9million in potential add-ons (€10million) is being prepared.
"There was a timid offer," Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas told Canal Plus after his club’s 1-1 draw with Lorient on Sunday.
"We felt like either they didn’t consider the fact that this is a player in the French national team. So it was not an offer that was even susceptible to making us consider a sale."
If Aouar does leave his boyhood club, L'Equipe claim that Lyon are ready to sign Paqueta to replace the 22-year-old.
The 23-year-old attacking midfielder joined Milan in 2019 after impressing at Flamengo with 10 goals in 32 league appearances in final season.
But the Brazilian international has struggled for regular game time at the San Siro, and Lyon could hand him a lifeline, as they look to replace Aouar.
Speaking after Arsenal's 3-1 defeat to Liverpool on Monday night, Gunners boss Mikel Arteta was asked about whether his side would be adding additional players before the window shuts.
"Well we are trying to improve the team," Arteta told Sky Sports. "There's a week to go, there's a lot of things happening in and out.
"We don't have any news on new players and either with players that might leave the football club.
"It's a week to go, I think it's going to be really busy for other clubs because not much business has been done. Let's see what happens."
