Football
Mark Rodden 8y

Arsenal target Alexandre Lacazette will stay at Lyon - Aulas

Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas has insisted that Alexandre Lacazette will remain at the club and has also called on Rachid Ghezzal to extend his contract after the winger turned down a move to Everton.

Last month Lyon said they had rejected Arsenal's bid of €35 million for Lacazette, although the 25-year-old striker has since said that he would be open to leaving this month if his club received "offers that can't be refused."

Lacazette has scored five goals in his first two league matches this season and Aulas seems certain that the France international will now stay until the end of the season.

"Of course, Alexandre is one of the key players in the team," he told former France international Christophe Dugarry's new RMC radio show on Monday.

Last year Lacazette said Aulas' behaviour during contract negotiations, when the Lyon president spoke about a wage offer in public, had "hurt and disappointed" him. 

Aulas said he has tried to correct that this summer. He also indicated that Lyon's improved financial situation, largely down to the opening of their new 59,000-capacity stadium, would also help the club hold on to their star player.

"Things have gone well," he said. "To make progress, you sometimes have to take into account your errors and to capitalise on your success."

Aulas also confirmed that Ghezzal, 24, had rejected Everton's advances after the Toffees had agreed a fee with Lyon. The Algeria international was previously a target for West Ham.

Aulas said: "We have a case of a young player -- brilliant, nice, intelligent -- who had a great half to the season last year and who -- before a very high offer from Everton, a transfer that we accepted and is also interesting for the club -- refused even though it would have allowed him to multiply his salary by 20 on last year.

"What's necessary now is that he extends his contract. Rachid is coming to the end of his contract and we can't prevent observers from thinking that he might prefer to wait to be free next January rather than accepting an offer from OL, which corresponds to the level of the internationals here."

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