Arsenal need a new striker. This is not news.
But the overnight Arsenal transfer news in The Telegraph is that the Gunners are ready to step up their efforts to get a new striker by offering £35m for prolific French forward Alexandre Lacazette.
According to The Telegraph, the North London club will up their offer after their original bid of £29.3m was rejected.
Increasing their offer by just over 19% seems like a statement of intent from Arsenal, who were not expected to make a second bid – at least that’s what Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas had suggested.
Aulas said earlier this week – in quotes translated by Sky Sports – that the Gunners would “not come back” after their first offer was knocked back. Perhaps that was wishful thinking?
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Arsenal’s persistence with Lacazette makes sense. This is a player who has scored 63 league goals in the past three seasons. The 24-year-old has also provided 12 assists during that period, which spans 103 Ligue 1 games for Lyon.
In comparison, Theo Walcott has hit the net just 15 times in the past three Premier League seasons, albeit he has only played 55 times.
Walcott’s all-time league tally for the Gunners is only 55 goals in 236 Prem outings since August 2006.
With Danny Welbeck injured and Olivier Giroud set to miss the start of the season following his Euro 2016 exertions with France, The Telegraph intimate that Walcott could start up front for Arsenal against Liverpool on the opening day, although Joel Campbell and Chuba Akpom are also options.
Lacazette would be a huge improvement on any of those players. Can Wenger get this deal over the line in time for the Lyon goal-machine to make his Gunners debut on August 14?
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