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Arsenal hold formal talks over possible deals for £78m-rated duo

By on July 5, 2016

According to the Sun, Arsenal have held formal discussions with both Lyon and Alexandre Lacazette’s agent AND Everton and Romelu Lukaku’s agent about possible moves to the Emirates.

Arsene Wenger is determined to bring in another striker to compete with Olivier Giroud this summer and we’re assessing all options after missing out on Jamie Vardy following his decision to stay with Leicester.

Alvaro Morata and Gonzalo Higuain have been strongly linked with a move in recent weeks but the Sun claim that Arsenal officials have now stepped-up their interest in Lacazette and Lukaku by holding talks with their clubs and agents about potential moves to North London.

The newspaper suggests that Lukaku is Wenger’s prime target and while Everton have slapped a £65m price-tag on his head, the Merseysiders will supposedly accept an offer of around £40m – making the Belgian international far more affordable.

Lukaku is still raw but he has huge potential and his experience in the Premier League is a major plus point with the 23-year-old managing to score 25 goals in all competitions for a poor Toffees side last season.

However, Everton are still trying to persuade him to sign a new deal and should we fail to land Lukaku then the Sun claim we’ll turn our attention to Lacazette who’s valued at around £38m by Lyon.

The French international is of similar build to Lukaku and he also has plenty of power and pace so he should be able to adapt to life in England if he was to make the move to Arsenal.

His 23 goals for Lyon last season was a decent return and the report claims Arsene has already held talks with the 25-year-old agent in France last week, so it’s just a case of seeing how negotiations progress over the coming days.

It’s understood Wenger would ideally like his new striker on board before we fly out to America on our pre-season tour later this month but an apparent club ‘source’ said that the boss is refusing to overspend to get his man.

A source told the Sun:

“Arsene is keen to get a new striker in as soon as possible, but won’t rush anything and overspend.

“Olivier Giroud is very much in his plans, but he wants to get someone in and was upset about losing out on Jamie Vardy.”

I’d personally prefer Lukaku but Lacazette would be a solid alternative if we can’t get a deal done for the Belgian. Neither striker is the finished article but both have the potential to be top class and at least they’d offer something different to Giroud.

MORE: Dutchman flies-in to London after agreeing short-term Arsenal move

Let’s see how things progress but the good news is it looks like we’re heavily in the market for a big-money striker, it’s just a case of who Arsene manages to land…