Arsenal have apparently bid $50m (£41m) for Alexandre Lacazette, according to reports coming out of France on Sunday.

This, if true, would be the total opposite of the stories that were running last week that were claiming that the price Lyon had placed on their hitman was far too high for their liking.

On 11th July, Lyon’s president, Jean-Michel Aulus said that he had spoken to Arsene Wenger during the Euros and that the boss had made no mention of Lacazette.

“I saw Arsene during France matches and he has not told me [of his interest in Lacazette],” the Lyon man told L’Equipe.

“I don’t think it’s something and it seems Alex wants to spend this season with Lyon in the new stadium.

“He wants to know an adventure in the Champions League could be much better than last season. I think he will stay with us and we are very happy.”

A few days later it was claimed that Arsenal *did* want him but were put off by his price which would have amounted to around €60m (€50m plus bonuses).

The main source of this new rumour, that Arsenal have bid €50m, seems to be the Telegraph who got their information from a site which is a new one to us – butfootballclub.fr – who apparently believe that Wenger has gone back in for Lacazette with a €50m offer.

Telegraph claiming French source says bid has been made, 17/7/16
Telegraph claiming French source says bid has been made, 17/7/16

Butfootballclub seem to have been around for a few years (domain registered in 2012) so perhaps we have just been careless in our monitoring of French websites. We watch almost 100 French sites and have never seen these guys mentioned or linked to before this story. Again, this could be down to us just missing links.

ButFootballclub state that Arsenal already offered €40m only to be rebuffed and if that is true, it would seem odd that they would jump straight to €50m – this is Arsenal we are talking about. We bid in small increments, not tens of millions.

Then you start translating their piece and you realise all is not as it seems. Firstly, they aren’t the original source either – they get their information from Le Progres – and they don’t even state that a bid has been made, rather that one WILL be made. Little bit of a difference there.

From butfootballclub.fr, the 'source' used by the Telegraph
From butfootballclub.fr, the ‘source’ used by the Telegraph

Le Progres do at least cover the region of Lyon (as well as Jura Mountains, Rhone, Loire and Haute-Loire), so points for at least being in the right geographical area at least. However, when you search their 30-day archive for ‘Lacazette’ the first result is from 12th July and none of the first load of stories involve his transfer to anywhere.

I’m sure it’s in there somewhere, but it’s certainly not immediately obvious.

So what does any of this tell us? Well, nothing really.

The story that is doing the rounds claims that Arsenal have made a €50m bid.

They haven’t.

They are, allegedly, merely considering it.

I’m sure they’re considering a lot of things. How journalists in France know what the most secretive of clubs is thinking about is anyone’s guess.

Pretty much like how most transfer stories come into life these days – by journalists guessing.