Houssem Aouar to Arsenal transfer rumours have resurfaced in recent days.
The France international was heavily linked with a move to the Emirates Stadium last summer, but a deal never materialised and the midfielder remained with Lyon.
However, transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has recently revealed that Arsenal remain 'convinced' Aouar is still right man to solve their creativity issues.
"They are still looking for this kind of player, they were also trying for Szoboszlai who then joined Leipzig, but they were trying really for Dominik Szoboszlai,” Romano said on the Feather on Football podcast.
"And also Aouar has always been the first target for Arsenal. They love him and they are convinced he would be perfect in their midfield.
"The problem is that Lyon are asking for €60 million (£53.3m) they are having an amazing season, they want to be back in the Champions League, so at the moment with the president of Lyon it’s really hard to negotiate in January for this kind of player."
Unless the Gunners can raise enough funds to sign Aouar, or the Ligue 1 outfit drop their asking price significantly, it seems unlikely a deal will be done this month.
With that said, Lyon did make a rather surprising decision regarding the 22-year-old in their home game against Metz on Sunday night.
For the first time in eight games, Aouar was named on the bench.
Although, he was brought on with 22 minutes remaining and was ruled offside in the build-up to Toko Ekambi's goal that was chalked off by VAR as Lyon fell to a shock 1-0 defeat.
It would appear that Aouar will remain at Lyon until the end of the season, at the very least.
But if Arsenal can manage to sign the playmaker in the summer window, they will get "10 times better", according to the midfielder's teammate Memphis Depay.
The former Manchester United winger, who has also been linked with a Lyon departure opened up about his and Aouar's futures ahead of their Ligue 1 fixture against Metz.
"It would mean everything to me to win the Ligue 1 title with Houssem, the team and the president," Depay told Canal+, as reported by Get French Football News.
"We know we play for a very big club but we want to go to one of the top three clubs in the world. Then you will see Houssem he will get 10 times better.
"For me the same."
