Arsenal have been strongly linked with Alexandre Lacazette again this summer, with some suggestions talks have already taken place between the club and Lyon.
New reports say we’ve been quoted a price of around £55m + add-ons, and in today’s Gunnervlog, James takes a look at the situation and asks whether the French striker is worth that kind of money.
Let’s have your thoughts in the comments below.
Short answer is Yes – provided we keep Alexis and Mesut.
But, if he’s seen as a “like for like” replacement for Alexis, then No!
Sanchez is gone.
I agree but it’s doubtful that it’s the plan as Lacazette is a pure Centre Forward.
So it should be either Sanchez AND Lacazette or someone like a Mahrez/James Rodriguez + Lacazette in the team which would replace Sanchez’s great contribution and certainly improve the overall impact on the team.
What u say is both probable and logical but I’d rather keep the kid why spend $$ too fix a situation that hasn’t developed yet,in fairness it would be good too have young talent at the football club again.
Lacazette and Mahrez feel like our back up choices.
do we need a good striker with reliable record for scoring goals – yes is lacazette one – yes then yes. problem solved . the price is determined by demand and this guy is in demand and arsenal desperately need a striker like this . so there is no point is dilly dallying at the price quoted . last summer we bid him for 30 million but lyon demanded more and we baulked just like we did many times with other players like suarez , hazard .now they are asking 60 million . at this point this is the only… Read more »
No
i’ll rather go for belloti…
Be realistic!
Be a surfer.
In the current market the answer is yes obviously. His stats are excellent and would only improve with us. Go get him Arsene.
£60M for some guy who can’t get into the France national team on the regular.
I’m having a laugh.
Well, he’s no Lord Bendtner but, then again, who is? 🙂
That’s a really interesting fact, especially when you consider that Giroud, whom many don’t like, is actually a starter for that same country.
This is not a Lacazette – Giroud comparison and I don’t want another Giroud debate (I personally really like him as a backup plan or as a substitute), just an observation.
What is he not capable of walking into the england team,wait I’m having a laugh,pap.
I think if you were to speak with dedicated french fans they would argue that it has to do more with Deschamps. Deschamps has his favorite players, a la Sissoko, who he will start over the better players. With that being said, France actually crosses to Giroud. Oli also plays well with Griezmann.
Giroud is starting above Mbappe as well right now. Doesn’t translate to value in the market and who would fit our scheme. Diego Costa for example is an incredible ogre for Chelsea, but not so much in Arsene’s system. He would run around looking incredibly ugly and not really know what to do.
Hell No!!!! if he is worth it he should be playing ahead of Giroud right?
Not really, no.
An under-rated talent like Giroud keeps Benzema, MBappe and all the other great French strikers out of the starting XI purely out of his consistent form despite somehow having little market value in comparison to them, thanks to the specific set of skills he possess that few others offer (aerial threat, link up play, etc.).
That doesn’t make the other strikers less useful for any club who plays them or valuable in the market.
If anything their skills could be nicely complementary with the pacy Lacazette playing off Olivier.
Benzema is suspended, Mbappe just have one good season and lacazette??? oh please
Benzema couldn’t get a look either before the sex tape scandal either, MBappe is on his way to be the most expensive player ever bought and presented as a future Ballon d’Or (that is too soon, sure, but that’s the talk of the land), Lacazette just finished a season having scored 28 goals in 30 games for Lyon and had the contract ready to be signed with Atletico Madrid to replace the departing Griezmann.
That aside, what was your point?
If Wenger knew what he was doing in the transfer market we could’ve had him for £45 mill. But £60 mill isn’t really over spending. All the signs point to Alexis leaving. And if/when that happens how much would we have to pay to convince a top striker to come and play for a club w/no CL football? Probably a lot more than £60 mill.
Why be also rans when we can actually feel capable of winning europa league
SURELY there is an attraction too European silverware for ambitious talent cause if it’s swanning about in CL that attracts them then they can stay where they are.
Yeah because Holding was such an expensive buy? smh
No
Sounds to me like we are keeping tabs on him as a replacement for Alexis should we be forced to sell him as i can’t see us keeping him with no contract extension.
Reports this morning ‘Alexis fears Arsenal may block his move to Man City’…I think that’s pretty obvious, but if he isn’t happy then ship him off to Bayern!!
Don’t believe everything you read.
Man city is impossible they already have too many people up front. Aguero, silva, de bruyne, sterling, bern. Silva, jesus…
Can’t see why that would stop them
I’ll tell you why.Because some of those players,if you add Alexis into the mix,would become 3rd choice which,if you’ve just spent £40m+ this summer or last summer for them,which is impractical even for City.Plus consider the racquet some of those players would cause if they don’t get game time.
You named Silva twice and they released Jesus navas, who’s been playing wing back all season..
David Silva AND Bernardo Silva whi they’ve just signed. Gabriel Jesus the current Brazil starting striker not Jesus Navas. To be fair it wasn’t so clear but have a think.
david and bernado silva
Not many options are available though. ..
No
No he’s not I would rather we put the money on Aubameyang much better player and will score much more goals
theres no realistic chance for Aubameyang mate…bundesliga top scorer, wants to play in the CL, PSG and Real Madrid have interest in him…no way he would go for us
No way. Many of his goals are from pens, tap-ins and 1v1’s. IMO he is not worth more than 25 million. He does seem very composed in front of goal though. I’d rather have 1 Benteke and 2 Samba’s and 1 Kalou for that money.
Best comment ever!!! Could probably land AVB as manager as well
We have to go for him
Come on Arsenal, make a statement
If welbeck is worth the 17m we paid and scores 4 goals a season. And Lacazette has been scoring 6 times as much, that would put him at 100m That would make Lacazette underpriced at 60m or welbeck overpriced at 17m. Seriously though every transfer has its own risks. Who knew that Drogba from Marseille would out perform Shevchenko? What would have been their worth before they signed for the chavs and who delivered? The reason we look at risk as Arsenal fans is because we don’t know how to move on. We had trouble getting rid of chamakh, bendtner… Read more »
Can anyone tell me if their are any world class strikers that are available and would *actually* come to us? (I’m not being snarky, it’s a genuine question). Seems like Lacazette might be the only high-profile target within our reach.
That’s very probable indeed, especially after having missed out on Champions League football (momentarily so, but still).
He’s a steal in a crazy market that values an 18 years old kid with 6 months of professional football experience at 100-150M euros.
Pesamist did u have that outlook when Wright Dennis Terr Henn and the bold Freddie where at the helm ?? Save that talk for your own four walls.
There is only a handful of real world-class strikers. Does Mbappe even qualify as one? Surely he’s bound to become one, but who knows? A certain Anelka never fully lived up to his promise.
If we are indeed going for a prospect, I am surprised Timo Werner’s name never surfaced. The guy’s far from finished product, but I hope we, for once, keep tabs on that and are able to act decisively at right time in case he’s deemed good enough and suitable by the manager.
In other news, Everton have agreed a fee totalling £30m with Sunderland for goalkeeper Jordan Pickford. While ospina and szczesny heading to Juve, how can we let this slip ?
You’re upset we’re not buying Pickford? Have you seen the confident and accurate way he distributes the ball to the players warming up on the touchline? He’s a talent, no doubt, but his game needs work, and no way we should pay £30m for a keeper who will be second or third choice.
60M in today’s market for such goalscorer is “normal” and Arsenal should be swift in paying. 10+M of it being add-ons makes it even more of a no-brainer for a player that freaking Atletico Madrid had basically signed to replace Griezmann’s goals before they were hit by the transfer ban.
This.
Atletico’s recent history on signing strikers should be all that is necessary to go blindly for Lacazette. Aguero, Falcao, Costa, Greizmann – it can’t all be dumb luck. Heck they even managed to get Fernando Torres to look like a striker again!!
Even though I would like him at Arsenal,it’s not as clear-cut as you think.Go have a look at all the goals he has scored last season and the season before.A good 20-30% of them are penalties and a further 35-45% were goals resulting mainly from the quality of his team’s play rather than his individual skills. To make myself more clear,have a look at some of Aguero’s or Alexis’s goals,and you’ll see that many of their goals result from the quality of their individual play.Anam and Stillman have said many times that Wenger is looking for THIS type of striker-one… Read more »
I can see your point and it’s a good one but surely this is why he’s 60M, and don’t forget that’s with add-ons, rather than 80-100. I think it’s fine for him to finish off good team moves, are we not going to have any?? Surely this is why we have players like Ozil to load the bullets. If he’s the best striker that’s prepared to come to a non champions league club it’s starting to look like a no brainer to me.
I see your point but keep in mind Aguero takes penalties as well while we’ve missed a few in recent times. Might as well have an expert taker in our mist!
Yes, Lacazette might not have the genius creative ability of an Aguero or Sanchez but he’s got a killer finish (something we’ve suffered for extended periods, 2nd half of 2015-2016, for example) and that’s with a team without an Ozil and such providing the passes. 🙂
Rather get him, we cant relay on Sanchez. And Lacazette is a proper striker. I like Giroud but hè cant carry the team, Lacazette can do it
Of course no! He is an average player, nothing more than Giroud.
This would be wasted money. We need world class players such as Obameyang,Marco Reus, Mbappe… I still cannot believe we missed on Higuain. .. now he is out of reach.
28 goals in 30 games?
10 of them penalities, and other 10 tap-ins.
*penalties
you have to be in the position to score tap-ins. He must have good sense of where to be in the box. That’s what strikers do. It isn’t all running from one end to the other and rounding the keeper or top corner from 30 yards. Scoring 10 penalties in a season is pretty good, given Alexis is our current penalty taker and seems to miss or have his saved half the time. A striker has to adapt to whichever situation he is in and these scenarios suggest that he does. His goalscoring record is also consistent for a few… Read more »
Do these count less in a game?
Never been convinced by this guy for some reason. I think because he seems on one dimensional for such huge money. And the fact he’s not been trusted to lead the line for France.
I didn’t know about the ten penalties either. 18 from open play is a big difference to 28, especially for the kind of money they’re asking. How many did Walcott score from open play this season?
Yes I think we should definitely sign Lacazette. Proved a consistent scorer in the last few seasons has good work rates too. BUT we need to supplement his signing with mahrez if and probably when Sanchez leaves :/.
We should go all out for Mbappe if not Aubameyang.
Otherwise I’d stick, I think Giroud will thrive with two wing backs and the crossing ability of Ozil+Chambo.
If we can buy better than what we have? then go for it, but if AW was convinced by Lacazette he’d already be playing for us IMO.
We’ve brought this on ourselves by playing paupers and refusing to compete all this time, now we’re seeing as second rate because we’ve acted second rate.
but we have Giroud dont we ?
Was the “invariably his right foot” comment solely about Defoe? Because watching goal compilations of Lacazette, he’s firing them in with both feet.
Not worth it
It’s over price but we need striker, sign him.
rather make a daft offer for Belotti. Strikers have never been France’s strength. If Mbappe goes to RM, I hope he survives there – they have a ridiculously strong squad. I expect Wenger will wait to see if they sign Mbappe and look to offload Benzema! Mr W does like his french strikers. I’ve seen Lacazette and he seems pretty ordinary. I believe his preference is to link up with his mate Griezmann, despite the so-called transfer ban at Atletico. Q for me is does Sanchez stay or not. Bayern won’t pay him what we would and if we insist… Read more »
we already have another Sanogo (if you mean a striker who will never play for us): Takuma Asano.
Yes I would buy him I believe he is 25 so a few years left and he is scoring over 25 goals a season and has great pace. He should be getting 20 goals a season in the premier league which is more than the rest of the team apart from Sanchez and he is off to City by the looks of things.
A picky man is a lonely man. Our current strikers count not even get us the dizzy height of top 4. He may not be much of an improvement but an improvement he will be. As per other comments with no champions league and no challenge for the title in years we would not be top on many players list
Take the money from Mbappe and sign our current players to 4 year deals.
As well as Lacazette
No player in the world should worth 60m…
What I don’t understand is how Arsene missed on this incredible generation of talent coming out of France. Dembele, Mbappe, Rabiot, the entire Monaco side. Who is Grimandi scouting?
I think it’s more a case of these players being at rich clubs (Monaco and PSG) already who will be able to afford whatever wages they desire. They have less reason to move now.
Dembele we missed out on as he was at Rennes before Dortmund, but players don’t really seem to leave Dortmund unless it’s for Bayern these days.
No. Not 60m quid. Lyon have been trying to flog him off for a while now constantly linking him to us. He is clearly a very decent striker given his goal scoring record (much like Aubameyang) and will benefit any team. BUT if we are to add in the position, we need someone now who can develop into the future. I feel we are missing the complete striker and we haven’t seen a good candidate for a while since RVP, Henry. I think Mbappe and Draxler are the new generation coming through. Unfortunately we will be in a fight for… Read more »
When it get’s to the point where £55 mil is the norm for a striker then you know that football has gone mad. That’s what I would earn in 2,972 years.
Football has been ruined for me by money, the players, agents and managers all live in this little bubble and have no grasp of the finances of average joe, the costs involved just to support a team and to watch them play.
It will get to the point where only the well off can afford to go watch them, used to be a game for everyone but not anymore.
SMH
really? you have to turn this into a look at the average fans salary comparison? Why don’t you go watch little kids play? I mean you can watch for free and not spend any money.
probably because little kids are shit at football?
Could have got him for 35 last season. Typically poor recruitment from us. I feel we’ll end up with him and Marehez. Not bad but not ‘a catalyst for change…”
He may not be no.1 but I see him thrive in arsenal. Giroud will take care of the headers. He also has good assists
We should’ve got him last season while we still could use Champions League to attract that kind of player. Why would he want to come to us now, for the Europa League?? Come to a club that sees top 4 as a success? Don’t worry guys, we’re keeping dead wood like Welbeck and Giroud; and let’s hope Sanchez stays
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
And a Coq being Rambo’d might hurt your tush, but what’s your point?
No. Giroud has scored 17 goals in his last 18 starts for France while this guy has been watching it from the bench. Nobody can tell me he’s such an upgrade on Giroud that he’s worth spending such an amount of money for him. Get Mbappe. We don’t need anything else so we can go all in here. He’s worth every penny. Pure quality.
Morgan Schneiderlin anyone? Or Anthony Martial?
All media approved must haves.
So listen to the pundits because they clearly know better…
Like why we should have bought Stones for 47m.
Instead that clown Dick Law went and did a deal with Bolton for Rob Holding.
There’s a reason why giroud starts ahead of Karim Benzema or indeed Lacazette.
😉
Giroud Mbappe front two anyone? Deschamp seems to think so.
Unfortunately the market for strikers in Europe is similar to the market for quarterbacks in American Football where teams have to way overpay for mediocrity . We need to get a striker in, but I think 55 or 60 million could be better spent than on other strikers.
Mbappe over this guy any day, hopefully that also convinces Alexis to sign an extension.
Doesn’t matter, we aren’t going to sign him anyway.
Blogs, why do all my comments go through moderation these days?
I don’t know 🙁
Don’t get the Lucas Perez situation while we are talking about striker. I guess he produced better output than Danny Welbeck before Welbz returned still didn’t find the games at the end of season. I will keep/play him over either Welbz or Theo
The Jermaine Defoe comparison is spot on I believe. Arsenal, so good at creating the chances yet always struggling to find the killer instinct to put em away. The French Defoe looks like a future top gunner to me.
Don’t think he’s worth it