Friday, March 29, 2024

Report: Lacazette allowed to leave if Gunners miss out on Champions League

According to The Times (£), Arsenal are ready to let Alex Lacazette leave the club if we fail to qualify for the Champions League this season.

The Gunners opened talks with the France international about a new deal last year, however, with little ground made, they were shelved.

Lacazette, last year’s player of the year, has a deal that lasts until the summer of 2022, however, it sounds as though the club are willing to sacrifice him this summer with a view to ploughing any funds from a sale into new signings and a pay increase for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

It’s claimed that we’re trying to re-engage the Gabon international in contract talks at the moment with his deal ending in 2021. Indeed, Mikel Arteta said at the weekend that the club would do all they could to keep their captain and leading goalscorer.

It’s no secret that failing to qualify for the Champions League hits us hard in the pocket. After two full seasons in the Europa League, Deloitte recently highlighted that we’ve fallen to 11th in Europe’s Football Money League losing ground on Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Sp*rs.

As things stand, we have an outside chance of qualifying for the Champions League via the Premier League, but that very much depends on Uefa’s two-year ban for Manchester City being upheld. We could also win the Europa League.

Lacazette might not be the only player we try to cash in on this summer. Mesut Ozil, Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis all enter the final year of their contract in July and it remains unclear how we’re going to deal with them.

The football executive committee has previously stated that they won’t allow players to quit the club for free and with new deals for the above trio unlikely you’d imagine we may well be touting them to potential suitors already.

David Ornstein said last week that Arsenal are currently  prioritising a new contract for Bukayo Saka who will also enter the final 12-months of his first professional contract in July.

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Paul Kenny

What would people think if both left (Not ideal I’m aware) and had a front 3 of Saka, Martinelli and Pepe with Nelson, ESR, Eddie backing that up. Young but potentially an incredibly exciting young front 3 and then invest the money in the spine of the team behind them?

Vince Parsnips

Potentially very exciting. A huge gamble to rely on 3 young players for a whole season though.

Mpls

Yes. Losing the consistency of Auba’s goals could be devastating if the youngsters don’t score regularly.

Da Boss

No issue for me but that’s a lot of pressure on some very young shoulders without any real proven track record. I do think we need an experienced goal scorer in with that lot, whether it be PEA, Laca or someone that we have to find on the transfer market if those 2 leave.

Man Manny

Just look at Chelsea with Abraham, Odoi, Mount, and you’ll see what a bunch of exciting youngsters bring to the team.
We need to do everything to keep Auba.
With Arteta in the saddle, plus other astute signings, I am almost certain Arsenal will play CL football come ’21 – ’22 season.

A Different George

What I see when I watch Chelsea is a team that, despite a strong start, is clearly not nearly as good as they were with Hazard. Their youngsters have undeniable promise, but they will be very lucky to hang on to a Champions League place.

Duno

Many who downvoted you misunderstood your post mate.

Man Manny

I think so. What I meant was that you get the inconsistency Chelsea is experiencing this season when you rely on youths. That was why I advocated for keep Auba in the next sentence.

Inflamed Pulis

I’d be concerned about the burden of pressure on those young players along with lack of experience and leadership. Would like to see at least a couple players among those six who have played in their chosen role and delivered over the course of a season or two.

Dave M

If both left and we didn’t sign another forward it would show a complete lack of vision and ambition. There is some great young attacking talent, but you simply have to dip into the market for a forward if you lose two world class attackers, if only for the optics of it…(but really not just for the optics, also for the need to remain competitive).

Torterrier

Paul, the idea of that front three in a couple of years time is really exciting but we need to keep Auba. His experience and his ability are crucial for Arsenal in the next two years. It’s very important for the young players to have Auba around, and as Auba gets older the more chances the young players will get.

Ram

100%agree with you. Don’t force players if they want to leave. Same time get rid of ozil. Too highly paid. Not worth the mo

adam

I would not mind it. But it had to mean that we reinvested in similar young talent to back them up. The thought of Saka, Martinelli and Pepe is fine. It’s their back-ups that I would find a bit to risky to only rely on. But Imagine what you potentially could do with money/salary from Laca, Auba, Ozil, Miki and Mustafi.

Eternal Titi Berg Pat Nostalgia

Come on, I am not ready to support a relegation team yet.

Don Berna

If we survived Alexis going and that other dutch cunt, then Laca can go. Keep Auba. sell Ozil. We”ll survive

henry

We didn’t very much survive did we?

mut

wut? Our seasons after them leaving weren’t that bad that the club is dead?

C.B.

Saka and Auba are the two to definitely keep (if possible).

Laca hasn’t been looking great, would be attractive to be saving the money that Ozil gets. Currently I’d rather keep Mustafi than Sokratis given a choice.

Amazed we have so many going into their final year, that is crazy.

atom

Well some of that is intentional as:

Saka just made a major breakthrough this year we likely weren’t expecting – he isn’t even officially a first team player yet

Ozil & Mustafi both have refused to leave and given their performances the past couple of years we aren’t exactly rushing to re-sign them

Papa was always a short term player for us

Really the only one we haven’t signed b/c he doesn’t want to resign up until this point is Auba

Kingsley

Wait, is Auba’s contract up THIS July? If so, that’s not good at all.

Olivije Žirod

Surely a mistake. He has contract until 2021.

Djo

Would sell him regardles. Use that money for new contract to Aubameyang and invest in younger physically dominant CF (Calvert-Lewin for example).

Olivije Žirod

In my personal opinion I do think we should keep Aubameyang next season no matter what. Achieving CL spot is more important than getting only 50-60 million for him. I think the club shares this idea and that is why they will want to sell Lacazette if Auba doesn’t sign.

Shtopthelights

I think we can all live with this. How we invest in the team with the money will be vital

G-Man

And so it begins…

Dave M

And so it begins continues…

St.macca

Aruba is the real problem here, its all very well the club saying they will do all they can to keep him, I’m sure they will, but unless w qualify for champions league football next season I don’t think he will want to sign another deal.
laca would be much more likely to sign under those circumstances although i feel selling him and reinvesting the proceeds would be the best option regardless.

Jarghs

I’ve never been to Aruba, is it really that bad??

OdalGooner

I hear it’s nice around Saint Emerick’s Day..

Dave M

Beach Boys liked it

Kroenke the Klown

Kokomo is better

Sta

Laca should be sold either way tbh
Especially if we get to CL, we can go for a much better player

bob

People with short memories really forgetting last seasons player of the season? Shameful.

Granted it’s hard to get the best out of both him and Auba in the same 3-up-top lineup, but over the season you want more than one goal scorer. And whilst he has had some form problems this season, he is class.

Back your own teams players instead of flashing your leg at this hypothetical “better player”. Give Eddie some time and he might naturally be that guy whilst Laca eases off, but don’t be blind to the value of experience.

Spanish Gooner

It’s not that people are forgetting last season, just that it was vastly overrated at the time. He scored the fewest goals out of the top 6’s central strikers, and was nowhere to be seen in the run-in that lost us top 4.

Pooner

Really not massively bothered about losing Laca. I like him and he’s a decent enough striker but his output isn’t top-tier like Auba. It’s still quite unlikely that we’ll get CL qualification so it looks like we’ll need to replace both of them at the same time, which isn’t ideal given the other areas of the squad we have to strengthen. It’s going to be another big summer whatever happens. Let’s hope Raul is up to it.

Rob67

The crucial thing is that they must NOT under any circumstances, repeat, or come close to repeating, the Sanchez/Ozil fiasco, that occurred under Wenger and Gazedis.

If they have to sell Laca’ so be it. If they have to sell Auba’ so be it. But sell. Get the money and reinvest. This means making the decision and not procrastinating.

That fiasco cost us @ £100 million. To have done it once is madness. To repeat it, doesn’t bear thinking about.

Sean

This. Took the words right out of my mouth. Let’s not get involved in all the posturing and all of the agent rubbish. Put the contract(s) on the table, they sign it or you’re in the shop window. End of.

Cultured determination

I’d sell him and add to the funds we already have, and invest in 1 solid centre back and 1 CM. Preferably tall and muscular.

Martin

We have Saliba coming next season

Tasmanian Jesus

He’s tall, but is he muscular?

henry

There is also an outside chance of winning the EL, no?

DaDude

The article states that in the same paragraph where the “outside chance of qualifying through the PL” is mentioned. Not sure if it was only added after your comment though.

Don Cazorleone

Can’t wait for everyone’s obscure signing suggestions based on their deep dive search on football manager.

MAD1982

Would it not make logical sense to move Laca on and then go in for Timo
Werner from Leipzip who has a release clause in his contract for £25m and is 23? Or id even look at bringing someone like Adama Traore for the sort of
money you could get for Laca.

Tasmanian Jesus

Pretty sure Timo will head to some club that win trophies almost every season. Will be surprised if Real Madrid wont be in for him, Bayern too probably.

Billy Bob

Some people saying on here we have a slim chance of getting into CL football but don’t forget we made the semi and then the final of the EL – so who is to say we can’t take it a step further? Also, think we stand a good chance of getting into fifth in the league, possibly forth – depending on the form of other teams continuing to be poor!! Also check out the run in for some of the other teams around us – ouch for Everton and Sheffield United

TommyGunz

That’s just it though, we are gonna need a number of teams to underperform. I think Chelsea have enough in them to make it, Sp*rs are now fucked for strikers (lolol – about time they suffered an injury crisis in one position – not that I wish ill on players), so for me somehow it’s Manu that worries me most there. Saying that, that’s assuming Sheffield Utd and Wolves drop off…

Mootilated

Am I the only one who wants Ozil to stay? I would really not mind if we kept him. He has really improved under Mikel Arteta. Almost got his mojo back.

OdalGooner

I would like us to keep him. But at a third of the wages. It’s been rehashed a million times, but he’s capable of great things given the right game plan and people around him. We said that about other players during the years. And we’ve somehow rarely made that ideal scenario happen. He’s definitely gifted, and with massive potential – but so is Saka or Martinelli, and they’re a lot younger and “cheaper”. If we had unlimited funds, I’d love to keep him.

loose_cannon

Agreed, I actually wouldn’t mind keeping him but only on a HUGE paycut.

Oregoon

He just might take a pay cut, especially if MLS does not come calling. I would be very surprised if he went to Turkey on wages that we would offer after this contract. Having another playmaker in the lineup like Ceballos, gives Ozil some room to operate. He definitely can not do it alone at this point in his career.

DaDude

I am and have been extremely critical of Özil, but I can identify with your comment. Özil nowadays is an average squad player for me. Not because he always delivers an average/solid/good performance, like for example … let’s say Nacho Monreal did. Özil has a mixture of genius games on the one hand and and shocking displays or games where he is completely unnoticable on the other hand. While Nacho always reliably “did his job”, Özil shines and flops, both of these performances seen over a season can be categorized as average for me and this commands an average wage… Read more »

catbiscuits

I’d like him to stay, as he’s our only remaining midfielder that’s easy on the eye. I expect the club will try and move him on in the summer, but when Qatar / China are the only places that could match his wages, why would he leave?

Kostas

We cant rule out anyone or any scenario just yet.
Its seems we have a big pool of players and only the ones Arteta is identifying as necessary and they want to stat should stay

Its gonna be very interesting summer

Jeremy

Don’t care, academy players, Auba and Leno aside, I am not attached to any of the senior players after the shite they have served up most of this season. Sure things have picked up and Emery was a poor coach for us, but much of the blame for where we are this year is on the players for me.

onenil

Disagree. The players were totally confused by Emery’s instructions. They knew he wasnt up to the job. They did their best individually but ended up being blamed for his failures. It was an absolute shitstorm.
With the right man in charge they are being transformed into a proper team. Same players different result. It is down to the manager.

Jeremy

I’m not denying the manager has had a huge impact, but those ‘non negotiables’ Arteta talks about should be done every match, regardless of the manager. The basic principles of being a highly paid role model footballer with respect for the paying fans and badge. We weren’t doing them at all.

onenil

Its difficult to put in a shift (the non negotiables) if you and your team mates cannot understand what you are being asked to do.

Oregoon

No one can get out of the blame game for Emery’s part of the season. Sure the players had a part. They weren’t playing for each other and being responsible like MA has them doing now. Ultimately the play comes down to the manager, but the bounce we usually see is part fear and part freedom of the players behalf. Bad play doesn’t happen in a vacuum.

loose_cannon

Selling Laca wouldn’t be a disaster. Love the guy but with Auba, Nketiah and Martinelli I’d argue we have CF sorted. Depending on if we can keep hold of Auba of course…

The Spoon

It’s fine losing all these players but it won’t do the squad much good having to bring in 5 or 6 players. So probably would be reliant on some more kids stepping up. Truthfully u less were offered silly mo ey for Auba I’d keep him and risk him going free next season. His goals getting up back in top 4 would be more valuable than a quick 20mil.plus he’s then be 32 and if we did make champs league we may well be his best option.

Mpls

Not saying what I think should happen, but what we would lose with Laca leaving is that player fighting up top. Maybe Martinelli can grow into that. Maybe we just don’t need it. I’d wager Arteta has some thoughts on that already, but that’s what we will lose and can’t immediately replicate, and it was a large part of his POTY performances last season.

Oregoon

We need someone that gives us a different dimension, a plan B, and maybe at the end of their career where they wouldn’t expect big bucks and a lot of playing time. Wacky maybe, but I still like Ollie Giroud as an example.

Nate

Not that big of a fan of the new comment prompt for mobile. Some of the new site design stuff is slick, but this one I don’t care for.

TommyGunz

The heads at the club need to have a plan in place already for not making the champions league, and potentially losing both Auba and Laca. As shit as that would be we need to make money back from them. Saying that, should we fail to make the CL and we could get half decent money for Laca, would it be worth considering letting Auba run down his contract? We get another year out of him by which time he is 31 and we have another year of the kids around him developing. Unless Barca are willing to offer silly… Read more »

Jeff

Am I the only one who thinks Auba’s knack for and ability to score goals only barely makes up for his otherwise inept offensive abilities? He is so terrible as a dribbling winger coming at defenders (makes us even miss Iwobi’s directness and trickery), cannot hold up the ball at all if he is alone up top, has no passing ability or vision from the wing. I discuss the two of these forwards with my friends who are fans of other high-end teams and it is certainly not unanimous that Auba is the better player. Lacazette is so undervalued by… Read more »

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