Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has always been very favourable in signing players from his home nation of France and for a period of the early 2000's, the Arsenal team was largely made up of French stars. Wenger has gone some way from dividing his attraction to Ligue 1 in recent years, but could he be
going back to France to sign another young talent?Lacazette has been on Arsenal's transfer list for a number of seasons now, although as far as the media is aware, no formalised discussions have ever been held, but the Mirror reckons Arsenal are meeting with Lyon this week, after the French club rejected two bids from West Ham. With Wenger desperately on the lookout for a striker this summer, Lacazette could be his man if he is willing to pay the asking price.
Lacazette currently plays for Lyon in France and is reportedly keen to move away from where he has spent his entire playing career so far. The French forward was unlucky not to join up with his national side to go to this summer's European Championships, after scoring 23 goals over the course of the season. However France do have a whole host of options when it comes to strikers and so it seem he missed out due to competition rather than form.
After having two bids already rejected from West Ham, Lyon remain adamant to keep hold of their main man and have reportedly put a £45 million price tag on the forward. In my opinion this is far too much for a striker like Lacazette because even though he is a prolific goal scorer, he is only really proven in the arguably weak division that France is. Lacazette is yet to prove to be a big player on a higher level and so I think that kind of money is a huge risk that Wenger won't be willing to take.
The other factor is that Wenger has always maintained that he won't have players in one position compete for both club and country. It was supposedly a large factor with not pursuing Benzema last season, because we already have Giroud and that would mean competition for a single place for both club and country. The only example that I can think of where Wenger has gone against his usual standard, is
Szczesny and Fabianski, who both played for Arsenal and Poland as goalkeepers.Although I don't expect anything to come from this rumour, I do think Lacazette could do well at Arsenal, but it is all down to whether Wenger can secure the young striker at a lower price. Keep your eyes peeled for this one.
Should Arsenal be interested in Lacazette?
By AH
Lacazette is not a bad striker. I doubt Wenger will fork £45m for him when he won’t go above £40m+1 foor Suarez.
I hope that anyone working for Arsenal will not go “Oooh look, a £40mil buyout, lets spend double that when we do not need to!”
It wasn’t Wenger who said yes to the figures as well, you think Gazidis just stands around trying to look pretty? Learn to think, what do you think his job is??? Give you a clue, he has taken over a lot of Deins old roles….
But of course there will be the fans who try claiming Wenger is god at Arsenal and he does EVERYTHING… Apart from sleep right? Where could he find the time for a 30 min nap if he done everything the fans blame him for.
Yes we missed out on Suarez because the player didn’t want to come to us, like Vardy didn’t want to come to us. We ended up spending more on Ozil anyway so why bring up spending and Suarez when literally a short while after we spent MORE!
LOL… please don’t get all worked up because of my statement.
However, I still don’t see Wenger or Gazidis or whoever paying £45 for any striker.
I stand to be proven wrong.
By the way, Suarez wanted to join us. Arsenal ruined the chance by the STUPID bid…and you know that. I’m sure Arsenal would have done same if we were insulted by such a bid.
Anyway, I wish Arsenal all the best during the transfer dealings.
Plus Gerrard told him he was too good for Arsenal.
I got your argument that every body want to get a better deal but this case it should have been £40.1m NOT £40+1 its disrespectful to add just a pound.
HELL TO THE NO!!
Admin we did have henry&wiltord competing for france
No worth that much, 25mil tops.
It’s the Transfer window again……… Pls take us on a Merry-go-round as usual
I have not seen Lacazette play but based on giroud being selected for the euros ahead of him then I assume he is not currently an upgrade on giroud. 45 million euros is way too much. I think giroud was £13m
I don’t really like Lacazette, I can’t see him do well as our cental striker,maybe on the wings to torment fullbacks and add more goals from the wings..
And for that price, it is a NO for me,he is not worth more than 30m at most, seeing as we got Sanchez for 30m+
I too am wondering how he’s deemed not good enough to make any place on the French squad. Not even third or fourth choice. Gignac ahead of him?.
They (France) watch Lacazette week in week out, they know him better than anyone could. So it would seem, they must not like what they see.
I trust Wengers judgement when it comes to transfer targets.
Personally, I am hoping for Icardi and Janssen, even though I know it’s likely, wishful thinking at best.
I doubt the Janssen one getting done more so. Simply because too many people seem to be on at Wenger to give this one a shot. Wenger responds well to being told who to buy, doesn’t he??. Icardi, we need to see if Milan will part with him.
Higuain Aubameyang and Greizmann, any those would be just the tonic, I gave up hope on these players ages ago.
Lukaku, Slimani, Lacazette, Hernandez, Janssen, Milik, Icardi, Jovetic, Batshuayi. More likely list.
How could a striker who couldn’t get in the French squad be worth £45 million. What does that make giroud worth, £50 million, I don’t think so. Janesen is available for £16 million surely that’s better value.