Arsenal 'Agree Personal Terms' With Houssem Aouar Ahead of Fresh Bid

Arsenal moved a step closer to securing the services of Houssem Aouar after reaching an agreement on personal terms with the midfielder, according to a report.

Though the Gunners have not yet had a bid accepted for the 22-year-old, they have been linked extensively with him over the course of the summer with Mikel Arteta looking to refresh his options in the middle of the park.

While Arsenal may not yet have succesfully negotiated a deal for Aouar's transfer with his current club Lyon, according to journalist Luca Fiorino of Eleven Sports Italia, they are drawing closer to the completion of the transfer, having taken care of Aouar's personal demands.

Not only has Aouar's future Arsenal contract been agreed upon, but also, as Fiorino reports, the Gunners will look to test the waters with a €45 million (£41 million) bid for the playmaker.

Though Lyon are in a similar position to the majority of teams in France's Ligue 1, where the early cancellation of the league has left clubs short of cash, there is no indication just yet that the side's notoriously uncompromising CEO Jean-Michel Aulas may be willing to part with one of his prize assets for a smaller fee than advertised.

Having finished seventh, Lyon also did not qualify for any European competition at the end of their season, but Arsenal's new bid is not currently close to the €60 million that Aulas is reported to be holding out for (via Fabrizio Romano).

Arsenal so far have not been able to tempt Lyon towards a sale, with the French side's sporting director Juninho recalling the north London club's unsuccessful attempts to use Matteo Guendouzi as a makeweight in discussions.

"There were some discussions for Guendouzi, who is also a good player. He was brought up during the discussion," said Juninho to RMC.

"But we don't need his profile, we were very clear. If it is like that, we are not interested at all, we cut the conversation, that is where things ended."