Arsene Wenger is increasingly desperate to add a top class centre-forward to his side but Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette may prove unattainable.
Lyon are preparing to offer Alexandre Lacazette the biggest contract in the club’s history to ward off interest from Arsenal, according to the Evening Standard.
Les Gones are determined to hang on to their prized-asset after losing the likes of Samuel Umtiti, Clinton N’Jie and Hugo Lloris in recent years and have so far refused to entertain the possibility of selling the French international striker.
And club president Jean Michel Aulas (below) is now willing to offer the 25-year-old a new contract that will surpass the £6.5 million a year deal that the supposed ‘new Zidane’ Yoann Gourcuff signed when joining from Bordeaux in 2011.
Arsenal had a bid of £29 million rejected for Lacazette, who has scored 48 Ligue 1 goals in the last two seasons, earlier this summer and had been preparing an improved offer, the Evening Standard report.
According to Goal, Lacazette is open to the idea of departing last seasons’ Ligue 1 runners-up but Aulas is unwilling to accept offers below his 50 million euro asking price, a fee PSG and Barcelona refused to stump up after enquiring about the forward earlier in the window.
Now, Lyon’s hard-lined approach could force Arsene Wenger to look elsewhere as he prepares to begin another assault on the Premier League title with only Olivier Giroud (below) and Chuba Akpom as his natural striking options.
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