Lyon are pursuing Manchester City defender Eliaquim Mangala and hope to seal a deal to sign Chelsea forward Bertrand Traore this week, according to the Ligue 1 club's president Jean-Michel Aulas.
Unwanted by Pep Guardiola at City last summer, Mangala, 26, joined Valencia on loan for the season and impressed in Spain as he played 30 La Liga games.
The France international has two years left on his City deal, but with Guardiola ready to allow him to leave, Mangala has been assessing his options and recently visited Lyon's training centre and stadium with a view to a potential move.
"In central defence, several approaches have been made to four to five internationals. Eliaquim Mangala is among them," Aulas said during a visit to French President Emmanuel Macron's Elysee Palace.
"He came to meet us. It is proof of a clear interest when a player takes the initiative to come and see the president of a club in which he wants to play. You know he belongs to Manchester City, that he's a candidate for the France squad if we qualify for Russia. It's Lyon's wish to have very ambitious recruitment in all its first teams."
While the move for Mangala remains in the pipeline, a deal for Traore, 21, is close to completion, according to Aulas.
Traore, who has been on Chelsea's books since 2014, was one of the key players in Ajax's run to the Europa League final during his loan spell with the Dutch club last season.
Footmercato.net reported last week that Lyon had agreed a deal worth €17million to €20m in principle with Chelsea, and Aulas confirmed the transfer is almost complete.
"We're fine-tuning the talks," he said. "It's a very ambitious operation, one that fits with what we had said. I hope to be able to conclude the deal in the next 10 days, if possible before the end of the week."
