Reported Arsenal target Houssem Aouar won’t leave Lyon in January and nor will West Ham United-linked striker Moussa Dembele, president Jean-Michel Aulas has told RMC Sport.
OL may have the luxury of resting midweek after failing to qualify for European football for the first time since the turn of the century.
But a gruelling domestic fixture list still threatens to stretch Rudi Garcia’s squad to its limits.
And with Lyon desperate to improve on last term’s miserable seventh place to force their way back into Champions League contention, the Rhone-based giants know they can’t afford to lose three of their star players midway through the campaign.
It’s no secret Arsenal see the elegant Aouar as the solution to their worsening creative problems having made a £35 million bid before the October deadline (RMC).
West Ham, meanwhile, are keen to bring former Fulham youngster Dembele back to London with David Moyes a big fan of the £30 million-rated centre-forward (Sun).
But, according to Aulas, neither Aouar, Dembele nor his Barcelona-linked captain Memphis Depay are going anywhere this winter.
“Not only Memphis but also Houssem Aouar and Moussa Dembele (are attracting attention),” Aulas says, translated by Goal.
“From the start, I told you they will not leave because, in a year when we were unfairly deprived of European football, we have to make a success of the season.
“So (they) will stay.”
Aulas appears ready to take a huge financial hit on Depay.
The flying Dutchman is due to become a free agent in the summer and the Lyon president admits fresh terms are unlikely.
But it seems he’d rather let Depay go for free than sell to Barcelona during the next two-and-a-half months.
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