Olympique Lyon confirms interest in Real Madrid's Mariano Diaz

The president of the French side Jean Michel Aulas has officially opened up on the club's pursuit of Real Madrid striker Mariano Diaz.

Lyon are counting on their good relationship with Madrid to ease the deal. Karim Benzema joined Madrid from the Lyon

"A loan for Mariano? No. It's a transfer. Both solutions were studied, but we are moving towards a transfer. We have been following him (Diaz) for some time." Aulas told L'Equipe.

'If we have the means to do so, he is a priority for Olympique Lyon." He added.

The 23 year old Catalonia born forward joined the Madrid youth team in 2011, and was promoted to the Real Madrid C team in 2012.

After impressive displays with the Real Madrid C and B teams, he was promoted to the first team by Zidane in August 2016, after Karim Bemzema suffered a back injury.

He made his debut for the senior side on August 27, coming on as a substitute for Alvaro Morata in a 2-1 win over Celta Vigo.

He was part of the Real Madrid squad to the Club World Cup, but didn't feature in the competition at all. He made eight substitute appearances for Real Madrid in the league last season scoring one goal. He also scored four goals in the Copa Del Rey.