Fading Lyon star Houssem Aouar is close to signing for Eintracht Frankfurt on a free transfer after turning down a move to Manchester United, it's been claimed.
The French midfielder was tipped to join Arsenal in the summer of 2020 before the Gunners saw their £33million bid rejected and wouldn't meet Lyon's valuation, rumoured to be in the region of £55m. Aouar, 24, continued to be linked with some of Europe's biggest teams throughout the following season but has remained in France with his boyhood club, slowly seeing his stock decline.
Now the one-time France international is on the brink of departing the Parc Olympique Lyonnais after 14 years of service, with Eintracht poised to wrap up an agreement which would see him join the German side once his contract with Lyon expires this June. According to Sport1, talks have entered an advanced stage and Eintracht are willing to hand Aouar a signing-on bonus worth £4.4m due to there being no transfer fee involved in the deal.
It's within the same report that United are mentioned, having allegedly made a proposal to the 24-year-old last summer as Erik ten Hag scoured the transfer market for new midfielders. While Red Devils supporters will be pleased that they ended up with Christian Eriksen on a free and Casemiro for £70m, Aouar could have offered a different dimension in the engine room.
Silky on the ball and possessing an eye for goal, his ability isn't in question. However, the Frenchman's form has slumped in recent seasons and he's only made nine appearances in Ligue 1 this term thanks to a string of injury issues.
Scoring one goal and registering one assist, Aouar's output is a far cry from the impressive statistics which he put up shortly after breaking into the Lyon first-team nearly seven years ago. Between the 2017-18 and 21-22 campaigns, there was only one season in which Aouar didn't manage to reach double figures for goals and assists combined in league play.
Have your say! Is Frankfurt a smart move for Aouar? Give us your verdict in the comments section.
That was the 2019-20 campaign and he made up for his lack of domestic contributions with a superb six assists in the Champions League, as Lyon remarkably made the semi-finals under Rudi Garcia. Unfortunately for the French giants, they were unable to build on their outstanding European run and parted ways with Garcia less than a year later.
His replacement, Peter Bosz, was also let go earlier this term and current boss Lauren Blanc hasn't been able to make much use of Aoaur due to him missing 17 games as a result of various injuries.
"He is a player who is technically gifted, of course," Blanc said of Aouar in December. "But he is someone who feels the game. He is someone who anticipates the game. He is someone who is very good when you have the ball. He has to make an effort when we don’t have him (smile). It is this type of player that I like."
It seems that Eintracht manager Oliver Glasner likes him, too.
