Lyon are hopeful of completing the permanent transfer of Real Madrid striker Mariano Diaz, their president Jean-Michel Aulas has confirmed.
The 23-year-old scored five goals in just 300 minutes of football for Los Blancos last campaign with Zinedine Zidane reportedly keen to sanction a move to allow the Dominican more game time.
"It's a transfer. We're analysing both solutions, but we're looking more at a transfer,” Aulas told L’Equipe when asked if the deal would be permanent on temporary.
"We have been following the player for some time. We have heard good things from Karim Benzema.
“We also have good allies with the president Florentino Perez, who I know well, and the all-knowing Coach [Zinedine Zidane], who has also told us good things.
"If we have the means to do it, it's a priority for OL.
"He has some very high quality rivals in front of him that we can't bring to Lyon for economic reasons.
"According to Zinedine and Karim, he's a very good player. He's young, powerful and very ambitious. It would be a great coup."
Reports vary between the potential price of any deal, with a fee set to be in the region of €10-15m.
