After striking Lyon’s Alexandre Lacazette off our list of available goalscorers this summer, it appears the rumour could still have legs.
Could we still potentially sign the Frenchman?
The story so far
Arsenal have been linked with Lacazette for a number of years now so when it was reported that we were talking to his reps about bringing him to north London earlier this summer, the claims fell on deaf ears. However, it soon became clear that there was genuine interest there.
According to reports, we were poised to trigger the 25-year-old’s release clause of £34.2m. However, as far as we know, this didn’t officially happen.
Lacazette’s apparent price then began to creep up until Lyon were allegedly asking for €50m plus bonuses. This appeared to be the last straw and we turned out attention elsewhere. Meanwhile, Lyon’s president, Jean-Michal Aulas, claimed that Arsene Wenger had not made any contact with the Ligue 1 club.
Days ago, reports originating from France said that we’d made an ‘improved’ bit (€50m from €40m), but these didn’t add up.
What’s changed?
Well, now L’Equipe have claimed that Lacazette is pushing for a move away from Lyon this summer and is hoping that a transfer will go ahead as smoothly as possible. According to the French outlet, he’s made his feelings known to the club.
It should be noted that Arsenal isn’t the only club linked to the striker. PSG are also after him and, considering they’re in the same League and could pay him higher wages, they could have a good chance of signing him. Saying that, the pull of Arsene Wenger and a new challenge with regular football could be enough to temp him.
Le Progrès: Nobody knows where Alex Lacazette will be in September. His future is not certain, even if Lyon have adopted a policy of denial.
— Get French Football (@GFFN) July 22, 2016
surely if Lyon sell Lacazette to PSG it would be the end of any lingering hope of a competitive Ligue 1 title race
— Matt Spiro (@mattspiro) July 22, 2016
Lacazette wants to play centre forward (ideally with partner). PSG determined to leave Cavani that role, & see AL as wide fwd/back up (2/2)
— Matt Spiro (@mattspiro) July 22, 2016
As Matt Spiro points out, Lacazette wants to be a striker, which is how we would use him. At PSG he’d be playing second-fiddle to Cavani and played in his non-preferred role.
At the moment, Lacazette’s future is uncertain. I do think he wants to leave and Lyon are most likely willing to sell. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t be entertaining this speculation at this stage.
Interestingly, he started following Barcelona on Twitter late on Friday afternoon. However, this is unlikely to be of any importance considering they a) haven’t been linked lately and b) they really don’t need him.
Lyon striker Alexandre lacazette started ff barca on tweet. I tink d pendulum is swinging to his syd. @AjadiAfeez pic.twitter.com/Iugrlp3gRp
— Lyk_stars_on_earth (@I_REPJUNE23) July 22, 2016