Lazio have reportedly upped their contact with Arsenal over the past 24 hours as they look to seal a deal to bring Lucas Perez to Italy.

Gazetta dello Sport, who have been the main outlet driving this story, claim in their Wednesday edition that the deal is on the ‘home stretch’.

They also state ‘in the last few hours contact with the London club has been ever more frequent’ and that a ‘breakthrough is around the corner’.

However, speaking earlier in the week, a representative from Lucas’s agency, Protio Sport, reportedly said, “It’s nothing believable, they invent things.

 “Lucas wants to triumph at Arsenal, he signed there with that intention.

“Lazio is a great team, but Arsenal are also. Lucas is in Singapore with his team preparing for a new season that we wish would be a great season.

“[We] have not talked to Lazio for months.”

Lucas’s future is not yet clear and it seems as if the club could still let him leave this summer even though it looked like he might get another chance to impress at the club.

In another report in GdS on Monday, they seem to hint that Lucas could be about to get a new deal with Arsenal, although this could be a Google translate mix-up. “…Perez of Arsenal, who is going to renew with Iwobi, another goal of the Lazio,” they write (when translated).

We know that Iwobi is set for a new deal so it could be that Google translate is mixing the two.

The stories regarding Lucas’s future have certainly been mixed this summer.

ElDesmarque wrote that Lucas was hoping to win Emery over in pre-season so that the new Arsenal head coach will have the forward in his plans going into the 2018/19 campaign.

However, if he fails, then it’s still very possible that the 29-year-old will move on, and his future is ‘unknown’ at this stage.

The forward has looked sharp in training and managed an assist for Eddie Nketiah in the team’s first pre-season match.

That might earn him even more favour than a goal because if Lucas is going to find a place in the team, it’s more likely to be in a wide position than up front.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette have the central striker role covered already.