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Player wants move as Arsenal open talks for 23-goal Spurs target

By mac14 on July 8, 2016

The Mirror are reporting that Arsenal have held talks over a potential deal for Alexandre Lacazette and while the striker is keen on the move, Lyon’s £34m asking price remains a problem.

Arsene Wenger is desperately trying to sign a new striker after missing out on Jamie Vardy and Lacazette has reportedly emerged as a prime target for the boss in recent days.

There was speculation flying about earlier this week that Wenger had held talks with the strikers agent over in France and now the Mirror claim that we’ve spoken to Lyon about a possible deal.

However, while the newspaper says that Lacazette is keen on making the move to the Emirates, they also say Arsenal are reluctant to meet the £34m release clause that Lyon are demanding this summer.

The Mirror claim that with Tottenham and Atletico Madrid among the other clubs showing a keen interest in the 25-year-old this summer, Lyon are hoping Lacazette’s sale turns in to a bidding war so aren’t prepared to sell for any lower than £34m just yet.

Hopefully Spurs’ interest will subside soon as they are close to signing Vincent Janssen while Atletico keep being linked with Diego Costa so they may also drop out of the race if they can lure the Brazilian-born nutter back to Spain.

That would give us the leverage we need to drive Lacazette’s price down but it’s a risky game for us to play and we could end up missing out altogether.

Lacazette’s isn’t the finished article and while he has an excellent record in Ligue 1 – scoring 23 goals in all competitions last year alone – the striker hasn’t proven himself outside of France and failed to make Didier Deschamps Euro 2016 squad.

I’d still like to see us really make a push for someone like Morata or even Higuain but if those deals prove to be unrealistic, then Lacazette could be the best option for us this summer.