Lyon want to bring Alexandre Lacazette back to the club from Premier League giants Arsenal in the summer transfer window, general director Vincent Ponsot tells RMC.
Arsenal fans can be quite difficult to please at the best of times. But, when the clock struck 11 on Monday night, even Simon Jordan probably wouldn’t have judged them too harshly if AFTV had spiralled into an eye-popping, vocal-chord shredding meltdown.
Mikel Arteta, in conjunction with technical director Edu, farmed out no less than six players and brought in precisely no one.
Well, unless you’re counting Austin Trusty. A 23-year-old defender who sounds more like a rusty 1970s saloon car than a Premier League centre-half.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s sudden, Odemwingie-inspired deadline day switch to Barcelona leaves Arsenal with just two first-team strikers.
Both of whom will be out of contract on July 1.
Will Alexandre Lacazette leave Arsenal for Lyon?
Eddie Nketiah has already turned down the chance to extend his deal. Lacazette, meanwhile, has done little to earn an extension of his own.
The Frenchman was arguably Arsenal’s most effective centre-forward even when Aubameyang was still at the club. But a tally of three goals in 16 Premier League games tells it’s own, rather underwhelming, story.
Lacazette joined Arsenal from Lyon for a cool £47 million in the summer of 2017. And the former Les Gones talisman will be offered a route back to the Groupama Stadium when his contract expires.
“It’s Lacazette,” says Ponsot. “He interests us because he marked (his name at) this club. He’s a player that interests us and we have always been in contact with him.”
Lacazette is not the only former fans’ favourite on Lyon’s radar. But, as Ponsot himself admits, the 30-year-old is a far more attainable option than Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema.
“In our context, yes, he is more accessible than Benzema,” the director adds. “We have to try to see if we can do it as a free player but we will not be alone.”
Inter Milan were linked recently. His £9.5 million-a-year wages were a little too rich for the reigning Serie A champions however.
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