Journalist says midfielder is ‘one to keep an eye on’ for Arsenal, but he will be ‘hard’ to get

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Speaking on the Que Golazo Podcast, CBS journalist James Benge has been discussing Arsenal and their reported interest in Lucas Paqueta.

There have been some conflicting reports about Paqueta and Arsenal in recent days. Some outlets are led to believe that the Brazilian is on the verge of a move to Arsenal, while others have stated that the Gunners don’t hold that strong of an interest.

According to Benge, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. The journalist states that the midfielder is one to keep an eye on, but he says that a transfer would be very difficult as Lyon aren’t open to selling their star.

What’s been said?

Benge spoke about Paqueta.

“The only other one to mention is Lucas Paqueta as well. He’s one to keep an eye on, but from what I’m hearing is that it’s going to be quite hard to convince Lyon to sell,” Benge said.

Tough customers

Lyon are notoriously difficult to deal with and Arsenal may struggle to get Paqueta away from the French club.

Indeed, Lyon have very rarely been open to selling their star players. Just look at how much they fought to hang on to the likes of Houssem Aouar and Nabil Fekir in recent years.

If you want to get a player out of Lyon, you need to pay through the nose. Tottenham learnt that the hard way with Tanguy Ndombele, and Arsenal do not want to be stuck in that sort of position with Paqueta. After all, they’ve already been there with Alexandre Lacazette.

Arsenal have been known to overpay for Ligue 1 talents in the past – Nicolas Pepe is the prime example here, but Paqueta may just be a bridge too far for the Gunners after spending big already this summer.