Arsenal fans will be hoping that the Gunners invest in a new striker come the summer, with our current crop of players still quite not at the right level to take the Premier League by storm. Arsenal have looked to have found a strong striker in Alexis Sanchez, but with the Chilean’s future up in the air, a bid for a new striker could well be on the cards.
Sadly, it seems that the biggest issue here is Arsene Wenger’s reluctance towards investing major money in a top class player. He’s now missed out on the likes of Suarez, Morata, Benzema and Higuaín in recent years, mainly due to hassling on the financial front. But could this summer be any different?
The biggest uncertainty to that question is that fact that we do not even know if Arsene Wenger will be the manager of Arsenal come the summer. If Wenger leaves then of course the incoming manager will have his own agenda and transfer targets. However, if Wenger remains in charge, one well known Arsenal transfer target has today revealed his desires for a new challenge, suggesting this could be Arsenal’s best chance yet to sign the want-away striker.
Alexandre Lacazette is a player who has been under the watchful eye of Arsene Wenger for a number of seasons now. The French international has been hitting the heights consistently at Lyon for the past few years and its heavily suggested that the player desires a new challenge. Wenger reportedly had a few bids rejected by Lyon in the summer; but with the player today making his intention to leave publically known, Wenger surely has to test the waters with another offer.
Lacazette told Canal+: ‘I think it has arrived at the right time, I think this summer will be the moment when we will have to change the air and discover something else. Always with the idea of advancing and progressing football and on a human level. Will continue to work again, hoping that there will be some great opportunities coming this summer’
The striker, who is now 25 years old, has been on Wenger’s radar since his early days with Lyon. Lacazette has hit 113 career goals with Lyon, 18 of which have come in his last 17 LIgue 1 appearances. His first four seasons with the club were less than impressive on the goals tally, but he was renowned for being a wonder kid at the time. However, since then, he has hit at least 22 goals every campaign since the 2013-14 season and will most definitely continue that run of form this season too, considering he’s currently sat on 21 goals with a few more months to go.
I think Lacazette would certainly be a smart purchase by Arsenal, especially if there is a shortage of world class strikers being made available at the right offer. There have been the obvious doubts about whether Lacazette could be as impressive in the Premier League, considering the strong physicality to the game in England, as opposed to their ‘easier’ challenge of Ligue 1 football. But if the player wants to leave and he’s available for the right price, then I think it would be silly for Wenger not to make another offer.
By AH