Arsenal are looking to submit a fresh bid for Frenchman Alexandre Lacazette after their bid £29.5 million (€35 million) was rejected by Olympique Lyon. The Frenchman has long been linked with a move to the Premier League with Arsenal, Tottenham, and previously Newcastle bidding to land the Frenchman on English coasts.
Whilst Arsene Wenger seems intent on bringing in the Frenchman, he doesn't wish to fish out Lyon's asking price of €40 million to lure the Frenchman to the Emirates. Earlier this off-season Arsenal's chief executive had said that the Gunners are not willing to shell silly amounts to sign players and Wenger seems to be intent on walking the same line.
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The French manager has been looking at players to revitalise his attacking line after missing put on Jamie Vardy, who rejected a move to North London to stay with the reigning Premier League champions Leicester City.
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The market for forwards seems to a great deal inflated at the moment with Juventus securing the services of Gonzalo Higuain for a mammoth £78m. Meanwhile, Arsenal’s Premier League rivals Chelsea had to fork out £33.7m (€40m) to bring in Michy Batshuayi from Olympique Marseille. And this seems to be a big downer for Arsenal, who aren't ready to pay any inflated amount for the forward.
“I personally believe that no matter what you do, it’s never enough,” Wenger said. “In the Premier League, every club is hugely ambitious. With the cheques that everybody signs, it’s quite scary. But I believe we know what we have to do.”
Lacazette had a breakout season in 2014/15 when he scored 31 goals in all competitions on his way to be voted Ligue 1 player of the season. With a 30-goal season under his belt, interest from across Europe began to fly in for the diminutive Frenchman. However, he provided a big dampener to all his pursuers when he signed a new contract with the Lyon till 2019 indicating his desire to stay with the club for the time being.
However, Arsenal are likely to be a too big a club to turn down for the Frenchman if the Gunners do up their bid. Additionally, with Danny Welbeck injured, Olivier Giroud remains the only option for Arsenal going into their first game of the season against Liverpool.
Wenger has had another tumultuous off-season since the signing of Granit Xhaka. Whilst the Gunners have roped in young players like Takumo Asano and Rob Holding, the Arsenal faithful are baying for a marquee signing which they hope will propel them to their first league title in more than a decade.
