Midfielder cannot sign professional contract with his club until he turns 17 in December.
Premier League leaders Arsenal are set to face stiff competition from a number of other top-flight giants in the race to sign coveted Olympique de Marseille starlet Maxime Lopez at the end of this season, according to reports in the Daily Express.
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The north London club are believed to be just one of a number of Premier League heavyweights currently running their eye over the young Frenchman, who is making all the headlines back in his homeland at present, with the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City all also understood to be interested in Lopez this summer.
And now the 16-year-old’s club have admitted that they are powerless to prevent their attacking starlet from leaving the South of France and moving to England next season, with a source close to the Ligue 1 outfit telling La Provence: “If a foreign club offers €20,000 per month to a 16-year-old kid, plus a stake to the parents, what can you do?
“This is the law of the football business, but we hope he’ll choose with his heart.”
Lopez has managed to register one goal and two assists in total in his six Uefa Youth League contests so far for Marseille this season.
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