Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas has publicly revealed Chelsea transfer target Malo Gusto won’t join Chelsea this January.

According to Aulas, 19 year old right-back Gusto will remain at Lyon until the end of the season.

Speaking to L’Equipe on Thursday, Aulas declared: “I can confirm that Malo [Gusto], a great hope for Lyon, will stay here at least until the end of the season.”

Gusto currently has 18 months left on his contract at Parc OL but the France youth international has shown little inclination to put pen to paper on new terms. 

However, the Ligue 1 club have form for announcing player sales won’t be happening before going through with a deal.

Chelsea’s deals for Michael Essien in 2005 and Florent Malouda in 2007 happened after Lyon denied talks were taking place.

Similar statements preceded the sales of Karim Benzema to Real Madrid in 2009, Hugo Lloris to Tottenham in 2012, Alexandre Lacazette to Arsenal in 2017 and Memphis Depay to Barcelona in 2020 – among others.