“Jose Mourinho to Secure Free Transfer of Former £40m Arsenal Target for Roma’s Champions League Campaign”

Houssem Aouar, the 24-year-old playmaker from Lyon, is reportedly close to signing with Roma on a free transfer. Aouar had been a long-term target for both Arsenal and Liverpool, with both clubs heavily linked to a £40 million-plus move back in 2018. However, Aouar stayed with his boyhood French club, where he has made 231 appearances, although only 16 of those have come this season as he was frozen out amid speculation over his future. According to Sky Italia, Aouar has reached an agreement to join Roma when his Lyon contract expires this summer, pending signatures. This news comes as a blow to Real Betis and Manchester United, who were both said to be interested and monitoring the situation. Aouar looks set to join the Giallorossi and work under Jose Mourinho at the Stadio Olimpico. Roma, who still have hopes of rising up from seventh to qualify for the Champions League, were first interested in the midfielder last summer. Aouar joined the Lyon academy aged 11 in 2009 and made his senior first-team debut in February 2017. He was nominated for the Golden Boy award in 2018 and forced his way into the 2019-20 Champions League Team of the Season as Lyon knocked Juventus and Manchester City out on the way to the semi-finals. He earned one senior cap for France in a friendly in October 2020 but switched international allegiance to Algeria in March 2023, the homeland of his parents, and admitted he “regretted” playing for France.