It’s not been the best day for Arsenal as their hunt for a new striker has once again seemingly reached a dead end. Firstly the news broke that long term target Gonzalo Higuain has move to Italian giants Juventus for an eye watering £75m and then also the news that Lyon have turned down their bid for the talismanic forward Alexander Lacazette.
It was quite apparent that Wenger was not prepared to pay all that money for Higuain and it’s believed that just over half of that Higuain fee could get you an upcoming talent with the promise to deliver a lot more. The 25 year old is in some demand this Summer though with a whole host of Premier League clubs hoping to claim the Lyon forward’s signature. But Wenger has only come in with a bid of £29.3m Euros falling somewhat short of Lyon’s valuation
Lacazette has spent seven seasons at Lyon but it’s in the last three that his career has really come alive. He has registered 63 goals in 103 Ligue 1 matches and last season was only topped in the scoring charts by Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He knows where the goal is and is well worth the reported £40m transfer fee.
With Arsenal having the pull of Champions League they could very well find themselves at the front of the queue when it comes to signing Lacazette but they can’t afford to hang around for too long as cross city rivals West Ham seem to have no shortage of cash and are more than ready to place a bid of their own. You get the feeling that Lacazette will depart this Summer it’s now just a case of where.
The bigger question is whether or not Wenger is prepared to go back in with another bid to make sure he gets a new addition to his forward ranks. A well known stickler for value in the transfer market will he feel that Lacazette is worth an extra few million so that his signing can be captured, Arsenal fans will be impatiently watching this space.