30th July, 2016
Arsenal are ready to test Lyon’s assertion that Alexandre Lacazette is not for sale by making an improved bid for the France striker.
Having failed to persuade Jamie Vardy to leave Premier League champions Leicester City, Arsene Wenger had also targeted Lacazette but had an initial 35 million euros (£29.3 million) offer rejected. Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas claimed on Thursday that Arsenal would not be returning with a new offer but the club are ready to bid around £35 million in the hope of solving their current striker shortage.
Olivier Giroud will miss the start of the season after reaching the final of Euro 2016 with France and Danny Welbeck is out until at least next year, leaving Wenger increasingly likely to start the season against Liverpool with Theo Walcott, Chuba Akpom and Joel Campbell as his main senior options.
Akpom and Campbell each scored in the 2-1 win against the MLS All-Stars in San Jose on Thursday night but Wenger wants to add a more proven goalscorer. Lacazette has scored 48 goals over the past two seasons in France’s Ligue 1 and, at 25, should now be entering the peak years of his career. Arsenal did make enquiries about Leicester City’s Riyad Mahrez but that interest has, for the moment at least, waned.
The striker position has been among the most sought after in Europe this summer but Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur have all succeeded in strengthening with the respective signings of Michy Batschuayi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Vincent Janssen.
Arsenal had also been interested in Alvaro Morata and Gonzalo Higuain but Real Madrid haven now brought Morata back from Juventus and Higuain, who will turn 30 next year, has attracted the extraordinary transfer fee of £75 million to join Juventus.
“I personally believe that no matter what you do, it’s never enough,” said Wenger. “With the cheques that everybody signs, it’s quite scary. But I believe we know what we have to do.”
Arsenal are also hoping to strengthen in central defence after Per Mertesacker was ruled out until 2017 with a knee injury. Wenger has been scouting new centre-backs, including Valencia’s Shkodran Mustafi, Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly and Roma’s Kostas Manolas. Koulibaly is a major Chelsea target and Roma remain determined to keep Manolas.