Tuesday 26 July 2016 23:11, UK
Lyon have "categorically" denied receiving an improved offer of £40m for striker Alexandre Lacazette from Arsenal.
French media outlet Le Progrès reported on Tuesday the Gunners had submitted the bid for the 25-year-old but Lyon quickly moved to refute the story.
Arsenal did make a bid of £29.3m early in the summer but had no response from Lyon, who are determined to keep the player.
A statement from Lyon said: "Olympique Lyonnais categorically denies having received a 48m euros (£40m) offer from Arsenal for Alexandre Lacazette like Le Progrès claims in their edition this morning.
"The club regrets yet again that Le Progrès did not decide to contact us before publishing this false information that has created confusion on the day where the Group, on the stock exchange, publishes its annual accounts showing 218.1m euros (£183m), a progression of 111 per cent from 2014/15.
"The reality is that the club Arsenal made an offer worth 35m euros (£29m), which Lyon did not follow up on for one reason: OL will keep Alexandre Lacazette who is irreplaceable and who is one of the main leaders in Bruno Genesio's squad."
Lacazette, who has been capped 10 times for France, scored 21 goals in 34 Ligue 1 appearances last season as Lyon finished second behind Paris Saint-Germain.
Arsenal are not the only Premier League team who were interested in acquiring his services this summer, as West Ham had a £31m offer rejected in May.
