‘He’s had his chance’: Merson urges Arsenal to let key player leave in May

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Former Arsenal attacker Paul Merson has urged the club to release Alexandre Lacazette at the end of the season no matter how much his form improves.

Writing for Sky Sports News, the pundit suggested that the French attacker has served his time with the north London club, and Mikel Arteta and technical director Edu Gaspar should release Lacazette this summer when his contract expires.

The French attacker is just one of two strikers on Arsenal’s books after Folarin Balogun left on loan for Middlesbrough and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was released by the club to join FC Barcelona.

With Lacazette taking over as Arsenal’s main striker and captain, the pressure is on for the forward to perform between now and the end of the season. Yet for Merson, the pundit believes the attacker should leave north London this summer no matter how good his performances are.

Merson wrote: “If Alexandre Lacazette goes and gets 10 goals before the end of the season, they can’t get lazy and just give him a new deal worth £250,000-a-week, thinking it might be his season next season.”

The former Arsenal star added: “However, for me, Lacazette has had his time at Arsenal. Whatever he does between now and the end of the season, he’s had his chance at the Emirates Stadium.”

New Lacazette contract isn’t the worst decision Arsenal can make

As things stand, Lacazette looks set to end his five-year stay with Arsenal at the end of this season. However, if the striker is to up his goalscoring between now and May, a new contract isn’t only possible but also not a bad suggestion.

Indeed, if Lacazette leaves along with Eddie Nketiah, Arsenal will be left with zero senior strikers, leaving Edu and Arteta with the huge task of finding multiple players to fill out the positions.

Whilst a new striker was always going to be the main priority this summer for Arsenal, keeping Lacazette on a new deal, and not one that necessarily breaks the bank, could be a smart piece of business from the Gunners, who could head into pre-season strikerless.