Arsenal's £15m Midfield Target Wants Ligue One Stay

Lyon midfielder Maxime Gonalons has insisted that he will stay at the club next season. The Frenchman has been linked with a move to Arsenal this summer, with Arsene Wenger reported to be planning a £15m bid for the player.

"Things are clear. I'm going to stay at Lyon next season because I still have things to learn and things to prove. I want to win with Lyon. I have been approached this summer and it's always good to know that you're been followed by great clubs," Gonalons said.

The Gunners are in the market for a defensive midfielder to replace Alex Song who left the club for Barcelona last summer. Wenger had initially earmarked Abou Diaby to take over the role but the midfielder's failure to shrug off his injury worries has forced the manager to delve into the market. Diaby is currently recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament injury and is likely to be unavailable for the rest of the calendar year.

Arsenal are also keeping tabs on Everton midfielder Marouane Fellaini to fill in for the role and have had a bid rejected for Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Lars Bender. The Gunners are also keeping tabs on Manchester City midfielder Gareth Barry and may look to bring the player in should they fail to land either of their top targets. Gonalons made 25 starts for Lyon last season in Ligue One, scoring three goals in the process. The player is contracted to Lyon till 2016.

Meanwhile, Former Gunner Gio van Bronckhorst believes that Arsenal will receive a grand reception in Indonesia where they will play their first pre-season game on the 14<sup>th of July.

"They can expect a very warm welcome. It's a big country which is mad about football, especially when the big teams come over from Europe. The whole country wants to watch the team, so they can expect a bit of chaos and a big [number of] fans. They all love the way we are playing in Europe, especially in England," Bronckhorst told www.arsenal.com .

"Clubs like Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool are very famous so I think it's a very good thing for the Club to go there and see how people are thinking about football and for them [the fans] to see the players up close," he added.