Slaven Bilic has confirmed that West Ham have not made a bid for Alexandre Lacazette, the striker everyone is linked with but nobody actually seems to want.
With the player rumoured to be close to signing the biggest contract ever offered in Lyon’s history, the picture around what has been happening is, perhaps, starting to become slightly clearer.
At the start of this rumour, the Lyon president said he had spoken to Arsene Wenger who had shown no interest in his player and recently the press in Lyon were reporting that both Arsenal and Lacazette were getting fed up with the constant reports because there was no truth to them.
Now, the West Ham manager has become the latest to have to deny making an offer for the striker. Speaking to the media ahead of the start of the Premier League this weekend, Bilic said, “100 per cent we will not go for Lacazette. We will sign Calleri and he will be with us pretty soon depending on the work permit.
“He is a top striker and we have a good balance in the squad. We have a big couple of weeks in front of us with five big games.”
So it looks very much like the smart money should go on Lacazette staying where he is but with a much improved pay packet and another striker crossed off the media’s shopping list for Arsenal.