The 21-year-old, who has netted 43 goals in 112 league outings for the Stade Gerland outfit, has long been linked with a string of European football's big hitters, including Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City, Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Their hopes of bagging the French international - who has featured 24 times for his country, scoring six times - appeared slim during this close-season, after the the player's agent, Karim Djaziri, revealed the youngster would - in all likelihood - be moving on in 12 months time following the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
However, club chief Aulas has since admitted they may be forced to sell their prize asset sooner than expected, should they receive an offer that is too good to turn down.
"Karim has said that he wants to stay another year at Lyon," he told L'Equipe.
"But I think that Kaka or Ronaldo maybe imagined remaining with their respective clubs.
"There is a tsunami called Real Madrid which provokes reactions at Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United.
"So it is very complicated to say that he is non-transferable. Today, it's obvious we want to keep him.
"There is more chance he'll be at Lyon next season than that he won't be.
"I won't hide from you the fact that he has been approached. For the moment, I managed to convince them not to go further."
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