Lyon's Houssem Aouar has been heavily linked with a move to the Premier League in the ongoing summer transfer window. The 22-year-old midfielder is certainly a hot prospect in the market and it doesn't exactly come as a surprise following his great season over in France.

Arsenal are one of the firm admirers of the player and Mikel Arteta has already submitted a £31.2m transfer offer that also included one of the Gunners' own player.

However, according to the latest reports from RMC Sport (via TalkSPORT), Lyon have now rejected the offer as they still value their star at around £45m.

Of course, we don't exactly know the identity of the player who was reportedly offered to the French outfit but there is some suspicion it might have been Matteo Guendouzi. Seeing how he has been frozen out of the squad by Arteta, it would make sense for the Gunners to try and offload him this summer.

Manchester City were also one of the clubs mentioned as interested in Aouar but so far, it seems that Arsenal are in a better position or simply pushing for the transfer more.

Be that as it may, Arteta will still have to improve his offer if he is to land the coveted 22-year-old. Nowadays, no player comes cheap, especially a young star such as Aouar.

Only time will tell how successful Arsenal will be in their pursuit.

Verdict

Adding one of the players into the deal does seem like a good opportunity for Arsenal to offload some of the 'deadwood' from the team. However, it's becoming painfully obvious that Lyon value their star too much to just accept any player from the Emirates.

For that reason, it would be wise for Arteta to up his offer just a little bit unless he wants to see this big opportunity pass him by.