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Man City’s £41.9m transfer target “absolutely” wants to leave club

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Manchester City could be triggered into action in the transfer target after one of their targets is reported to want to leave his club this summer.

What’s the word?

Houssem Aouar is the man in question, having been on our radar for some time now, along with Arsenal. The 22-year-old was a key influence as Lyon knocked us out of last season’s Champions League quarter-final and ending our dreams of European glory for another season.

The French central midfielder is believed to have a price tag of around €46m (£41.9m) and having just signed Ruben Dias from Benfica, questions remain as to whether we will make the move for him.

But reports emerging from his homeland may alter our stance and encourage us to make a bid for Aouar before the transfer window closes next Monday.

Should City sign Aouar as Silva's heir?

Yes, get it done

No, we have Foden for that

According to L’Equipe (via SI), the player “absolutely” wants to leave Lyon and believes that Arsenal could be his next club, despite heavy interest from us and the Serie A champions Juventus.

The report adds that Aouar is well within our rumoured budget, which might not rule us out completely from a possibly hijacking the Gunners’ attempts to secure his services for the 2020/21 campaign.

Long-term project

At such a young age, Aouar has the potential to gel really well into a squad led by Pep Guardiola, especially around the world-class assets that we have in the team.

For sure, the Frenchman would bolster our strength in depth, which is something that appeared to be lacking against Leicester City. He is good dribbler on the ball, has the ability to find the sort of pass to split defences and can also hold up play if required, per Whoscored.

All of these characteristics would improve us dramatically if you look at how well he played for Lyon last season. Whoscored recorded that last season, he accumulated a pass success rate of 85.7% from 23 starts as well as 1.3 long balls and 2.6 dribbles.

I feel strongly that Aouar will bed into our system well, in the hope that he can replicate the performances that Fernandinho has been putting in over the years, as well as provide another dimension up the other end of the pitch.

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