Aouar and Partey remain targets in final week of the window, Aouar looks more likely

Arsenal are more likely to sign Houssem Aouar than Thomas Partey but both players remain targets for the club in the final week of the transfer window, according to David Ornstein of The Athletic. 

The Gunners have been scouting Partey for a number of years and are keen on bringing him to the Emirates. He has a release clause of £45 million which will need to be paid in full. In addition to this, he has high wage demands and the agent fees involved in this deal are significant.

If the deal is not right for Arsenal, they will not pursue it. They have backup options in the event that they are unable to find an agreement with Atletico and Partey to make this deal happen.

Mikel Arteta is fond of Houssem Aouar and the player would like to move to Arsenal. Negotiations between Arsenal technical director, Edu Gaspar, and Lyon sporting director, Juninho, have been cordial.

The French side’s president Jean-Michel Aulas has made many public comments about this particular transfer but these statements have not disrupted talks behind the scenes. Lyon are in a challenging financial situation and need to sell players. Arsenal might need to free up some space in their squad to facilitate this deal but will have to make an offer than Lyon find acceptable.

Due to the challenges involved in any potential deal to sign Partey, Aouar looks the likelier of the two to sign for the Gunners but the dream scenario would be to bring both players to the Emirates. Whether the club have the finances and space in the squad to manage that is unknown. 

The North London side will hope to move a few players on this week as they aim to control the size of their squad. They will listen to offers for Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi. Reiss Nelson could leave the club on loan for the 2020/21 season as could some of the other young players at the club.