Lyon Reject Arsenal Bid For Lacazette
French club Olympique Lyon have issued a statement saying that the club have rejected a €35 million bid from Arsenal for front-man Alexandre Lacazette.
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Arsenal’s hunt for a striker in this summer’s transfer window has been well documented with the North London club being linked with almost every top-level striker on the planet. Before the news broke of the club submitting a bid for the Frenchman, the latest striker to be linked was Inter Milan captain Mauro Icardi, with reports suggesting that a meeting would take place between Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and Icardi’s agent Wanda Nara.
In fact, the consensus for the past few transfer windows has been that Arsenal needs a new striker. This is perhaps a little unfair on their current first-choice striker Olivier Giroud. According to WhoScored.com, the French forward netted 16 goals in 38 Premier League games last season and he also registered 6 assists too. The player fits into Wenger’s style of play at Arsenal so well because, as a link forward, there is not many better in the league, so when he does not score for a couple of games, he may create some for the quality attacking midfielders behind him. His performances in Euro 2016 justified Wenger’s persistence with him over the season as Giroud scored 3 goals in 6 games for France, providing the perfect foil for Antoine Griezmann.
However, the quality of Giroud’s compatriot Lacazette is arguably on a much higher level. The forward is only 25-years-old, 4 years younger than Giroud, and over the last two seasons in Ligue 1 has scored 48 goals in only 67 games. Lacazette also brings more versatility than Giroud, as his pace, power and ability with the ball at his feet allows him to be used on either wing as well, similar to Danny Welbeck, who was ruled out for nine months back in May. So it could be argued that Lacazette is actually being brought in to replace the versatility of Welbeck while he is out, but if a club is spending upwards of €35 million on a player they are expected to be one of the first names on the team sheet.
Lacazette seems ready-made for the Premier League, the Frenchman is gifted with a natural pace that often helps strikers thrive in this league. The 25-year-old is not short of suitors who know that too, with Liverpool also reported to be hunting the striker’s signature. But Lyon, understandably, are not ready to let the star asset leave unless one of these clubs offers big money. For the time being, Arsenal’s search for a new striker goes on.