Spanish outlet El Mundo Deportivo have taken Alexandre Lacazette’s absence from the Arsenal squad for the Community Shield as a sign that his departure from the club is inching closer.
It may well be that, but with the likes of Nicolas Pepe and Willian also not involved, and some players absent because of self-isolation, it’s not a sure-fire assumption to make.
However, they also indicate that Atletico Madrid are interested in the striker, but any arrivals in that area of the pitch are dependent on moving on Diego Costa. Interest in the Spanish international from Benfica and Milan may open the door for the Frenchman to join the club who have had a long-standing desire to bring him to La Liga.
It was only a transfer ban which scuppered a deal in the summer of 2017, after which Arsene Wenger paid close to £50m to bring him to North London.
Arsenal are going to need to sell some players this summer, and at 29 with two years left on his current deal, Lacazette is a genuine candidate and someone who could raise some funds to be spent elsewhere.
He scored just 10 goals last season, although he was hampered by injury early on, and given his contractual situation it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Gunners tried to cash in.
One to keep an eye on, for sure but at the moment lack of detail means we’ll give this a fence sitting 5 on the Poo-O-Meter.
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Honestly of the current squad he’s one I could really see us parting with as we could manage without him but he’s still worth serious money. Move Auba central and we’ve still got Saka, Pepe, Willian and later Martinelli, plus Smith-Rowe, Nelson and other young players looking for games on the wings.
I don’t want it because his made a lot of assists and seems to work well with Auba but would I be happy to swap him for Partey? Yes, yes I would. (I know Atletico have already refused that but maybe some hardball might change their minds)
I think it would be a big mistake to let him go. What if Auba suffers an injury? We would be left without a single senior striker in the team. While I really like Nketiah, but in the strongest league in the world it would be absourd to rely on him or Martinelli to produce a season with 15-20 goals. Lacazette on the other hand not only an intelligent, experienced, hard working striker but also a popular member of the squad and a proven goalsorer. (Not to mention that we just do not need to sell him in order to… Read more »
This is a good point. In some areas of the pitch there is room to sell without disturbing the balance of the squad. That is clearly not the case in the CF position. I think Laca fits into the new system very well and as mentioned above provides a lot of qualities as a striker
These assets are rare and valuable in a CF. I would like to see him stay for another season while martinelli and nketiah the apex predator take the time to develop.
saying that there is a balance sheet to think about here
If he stays for another year, his value reduces as he’ll be 30 and his contract will be winding down fast (it expires in June 2022). I suspect that we’ll try and cash in while his value is still (relatively) high.
I totally agree with your concerns. But we are not really in a position to have a player of Lacazette’s calibre alongside a striker of similar dimensions like Aubameyang. Our economic fragility just doesn’t allow it. For the same reason we are open to offers for AMN and Martinez until recently. Anyone who isn’t unconditionally needed has to have a price. The money has to come from somewhere and it ain’t coming from Mustafi, Ozil, Papa or Kolasinac. Therefore, we have to make some sales that we don’t necessarily love. This squad isn’t good enough and if we have two… Read more »
If we don’t sell him we need to extend him and are looking at having multiple forwards on massive contracts in their 30s with little to no resale value. That’s a really tough proposition for a club that’s self-sustaining. I know people don’t like it but the reality is part of building a better team is going to see players fans like leave as we need to sell players we can generate enough funds from to upgrade our midfield.
All of these are good arguments in favour of selling; his age, his value now as a player, our need to make funds available elsewhere in the squad. It’s clear that his absence from the team will be felt though, and even if he did only notch up 10 goals last season, it was still ten that wasn’t coming from the wing or from midfield. So he has to be replaced, either with a CAM who can contribute goals or with the combined contributions of martinelli and nketiah. I guess i just hope that by the end of the window… Read more »
I do think part of the reason we brought in Willian was to be more of a goal scoring CAM type. That said unless we get a new defender (Gabriel likely) and a midfield it’s going to be tough for us to play a more attacking formation. That’s a major reason imo we struggle so much against the smaller teams while have performed well against the big 6 – we can set up to counter the big teams while we have to attack the smaller teams which highlights our flaws.
That’s a really good point atom
That is correct… and lets also not forget he was our player of the year 2 years ago.. 1 bad season doesnt make you a bad player..
No! He’s not who we should be getting rid of right now, unless it’s for a ridiculously high fee
Tbh selling Laca will be foolish. Auba looks more settled at wing, getting free space to run behind and cut inside. Laca brings a lot of quality in terms of link up play, pressing and also defence. He also frees us a lot of space for Auba. Also, Laca is better dribbler in tight spaces. With no settled number 10, we need goal scoring to be distributed and letting Laca go will put that pressure on Auba.
The way we are set up at the minute we certainly seem to need Laca and then Eddie is a decent backup.
I can’t see it makes sense to let Laca go unless we are going to replace him and/or try a different approach.
I don’t understand. We have a world-class player who’s form playing from the left-hand-side of an attacking 3 has been spectacular – and you want to move him centrally?
He has been a great servant of the club. Shame that we have to lose him and that Simeone us not going to entertain a straight swap for Partey.
While there is a lot of noise how arsneal would be willing to sell lacazette to raise funds, there is still lack of any half-decent evidence that arsenal are actually willing to sell. If i was in arteta’s shoes, i would be massively reluctant to let lacazette go, even to generate funds for another position. This is an experienced and talented sriker in his peak years. And just like giroud before him, he provides a lot of balance to arsenal’s attack. He’s capable of taking runs in behind, coming short, holding up play, linking with wingers, as well as having… Read more »
I don’t think anyone is questioning that he is a really good player – but we have a burning hole in two places. Midfield and our pockets. I’d rather lose Laca, who is likely to be in rotation anyway – not starting every game, and Leno (another area where we have more depth than we can afford), and perhaps a full-back and invest in an attacking and defensive midfielder. We have strength at GK and up front with a lot of depth too, and perhaps a lot of depth at full-back. We have to keep things turning over for the… Read more »
Absolutely spot on.. As much as I agree we need funds to get more players, Having players like Lacazette in the team is crucial to this Arsenal set up as he provides the much needed balance up front as Arteta has stated many times before. The way I see it, Arteta is playing Lacazette in a false 9 position at times, dropping deeper to the midfield to aid in build up and create a midfield overload. His link up play and ability to strike the ball well at distance is a quality we can’t afford to lose. We need to… Read more »
If push comes to shove, surely the swap Partey-Laca has to happen (maybe Laca+10M€?. Or do we just say here’s 50M€ and we’ll take 40M€? That is dumb, because both clubs would likely have to take loans to finance that given cash is rarely lying around except in perhaps inside the Burj Khalifa, which is surely just filled with gold coins like Scrooge McDuck’s Money Bin.
I think this Partey fellow is the answer all Arsenal’s problems. And I mean ALL of them. The lines for the loo, the over priced snacks.
In fact, Partey to Arsenal will solve global climate change and bring world peace.
Exactly, and apart from sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what has Lacazette ever done for us?
I thought Flamini was doing that already?
Hardly a case like Torres to Chelsea but the type of sale Arsenal & Arteta need to advance the club to a higher level
And if Auba picks up a long term injury next season, you’ve got Eddie Nketiah, Reiss Nelson,an already injured Martinelli, Tyreece John-Jules and some Chelsea pensioner in the number 10 role.
Higher level…? ?
If PEA gets injured and is out for a long stretch, Arsenal isn’t likely to pick up a lot of points with or without Lacazette. We are relying on Aubameyang this season in any case.
He’s got 2 years left. If we aren’t going to renew him (because he’ll be nearly 32) then now’s the time to sell. That’s not a reflection of his quality, just his transfer value (and Arteta’s rebuilding plans)
5 poos – meaning this could potentially happen. How many poos for a swap deal with Thomas Partey, Andrew?
I think he’s an average forward and his supposed ‘link up’ play that he’s now credited for is massively over hyped. Works hard but then so does everyone in this team now, if they don’t they won’t play. The difference in what he gives the team and eddie is barely noticeable except eddie is pacier and more involved (yet still developing). If we could sell him for more than £20m I’d be surprised and would take it in an instant
What are you talking about?
Which part? The money? Hardly any club has money to spend. If they have they’re probably not spending a large chunk of it on a 29 year old striker who doesn’t score any more goals than giroud did and doesnt come close to his link up play and he went for less pre covid. I get it, a lot of people rate him but having watched him for 3 seasons like everyone else, i couldn’t name a single thing that he excels at. If this was a normal transfer window then fine maybe we’d get a decent amount more. I… Read more »
Lacazette is the glue to our attack. He’s so important and when we have a proper midfield, he will not have to drop deeper anymore. A top striker and someone that deserves some more respect on here
Why do we underestimate our players like that?? Morata when for 50 million for God’s sake….
It doesn’t matter who says what about his (or any other player’s) value – it’s what other clubs are prepared to pay that matters. Morata is only 27 for a start so has more years in him (and possibly another move as well, so greater re-sale value) than Lacazette. I think we’d expect more than £20 million, but we’re certainly not going to recoup near our original investment.
Thank goodness you aren’t in charge of Arsenal’s business transactions.
I gave you a thumbs up because its already been touted that transfer fees will be less this window.
chelsea upsetting the balance by telling everyone the same thing at the same time so other teams dont realise they had 300m to spend.
arsenal haven’t got that luxury, everyone knows we have alot of players and no money.
is lacazete worth more than £20m yeah, will a club pay what hes worth? I doubt it.
I also think we should keep him, as mentioned above, we lose Auba and we are fecked
Spot on about Eddie. We saw the best of Laca in 2019 and saw the worst of him in 2020. You could argue we missed Champions League because of Laca’s form and not be wrong.
I think Eddie/Saka can hit/exceed the 2019 numbers of Laca.
This guy is on weed
I like Laca but the front line is one area we’re relatively well stocked at the moment. If we can get a good fee for him (or a straight swap for Partey if that’s who Arteta wants) then it makes sense as it will help us rebuild the midfield and we don’t need multiple forwards on huge contracts in their 30s (we need to extend him if we don’t sell). I’ve been in the camp that selling AMN makes sense but given the way he’s playing increasingly makes me think he’s worth having – albeit as a midfielder as I… Read more »
Arsenal are not ‘well stocked’ in forward positions. 2 senior strikers, one senior winger (pepe) , and a few promising but youth players for 3 positions is the bare minimum required. Willian is most probably going to be used in midfield considering a lack of senior attacking midfielders.
Also, just a side-poiny, if we’re thinking something like ‘sell lacazette, play aubameyang as striker’ we need to keep in mind how much tweaking a manger has to do change the system like that and whether it is even worth doing when the current system is working so well.
Pepe, Auba & Eddie can all play as a central striker. We have Auba/Pepe/Nelson/Martinelli/Saka/Willian who can all on the wings. The tweaking would be extremely minimal in terms of the front 3 particularly as Eddie started quite a few games as our central striker.
There’s also John-Jules and ESR to throw into the mix.
I’m neither for nor against a sale. It all depends on the terms, what the player wants and who we can bring in with the proceeds. Maybe Eddie is ready for a run in the team, I certainly think he has the ability.
Agree on using AMN in midfield, he already kind of those when we’re in possession and it works. But I’m less sure on selling Lacazette without replacement. He’s our best lone striker option and, assuming we want to keep Auba on the left where he’s done very well, I don’t think our other options are ready to step up yet.
Here’s the issue – our midfield quite frankly isn’t good enough to compete for the top 4 as is. Our defense sans Gabriel (hopefully he signs soon) is also so bad that it requires us to play a back 5 to compensate. That works well against the top teams as they attack and we counter but doesn’t really work against anyone else which is why we struggle so badly against the smaller clubs. Rather than framing it is Eddie better than Laca (of course not right now) it’s better to think about whether the overall team benefits from from having… Read more »
Spot on once again @atom! I think we’re on exactly the same page on the midfield. I also think Arteta is hoping to find the right centre half pairing to shift back to a 4-3-3 formation, in which we can control the centre of the park again and make some opportunities through the middle of the pitch and not just via the wings. To do that we ABSOLUTELY need midfield upgrades (AM & DM/Box-2-box), I thought we need those two options even assuming Dani Ceballos was coming back, without him we are paper thing on depth and quality in the… Read more »
We are not ‘well-stocked.’
We have two proven goal scorers up front. Laca is one of them.
If Auba picks up an injury, we won’t be as ‘well-stocked’ as you think…
I think it’s a good idea to cash in on Lacazette this year, but only if we have sufficient backup. Nketiah is a good finisher, excellent poacher, but we can’t rely solely on him if anything happens to Aubameyang. I’m not that familiar with our youth players, but I’d only sell if we have a decent 3rd striker to call upon. Martinelli could be an amazing option there, but he’s far away from fitness.
I think Simeone is the only one who can revive Lacazette’s career. His is not a dip in form anymore, it’s a proper decline. For his sake, hope Simeone gets him to do a Torres “the lean years” imitation and work hard as the defender from the front. For our sake, Partey comes our way.
We don’t have a center forward.. Arteta prefers Auba from the left.. anyone who thinks Eddie will take us to the top four playing as our number 9 week in week out should wake up
Lacazette too can’t get us to the top 4 if that’s your criteria
I’d rather have an Auba through the middle with an upcoming potentially good striker than a old inconsistent striker as back up
Invest the money in a DM, AM/CM and if possible a class winger who can dribble on the wing with goal scoring abilities.
That’s how to get Top four given our current defensive improvement
We should never have bought him really. Wenger was late on the purchase – right player, wrong time. He’s a great, hard working player who deserves to be first-choice striker for a club.. just not Arsenal. I’m not convinced by Partey and think we should just accept cash for Laca from whoever gives us the best deal. Sad to see him go, but prob best for everyone.
It really depends on what we can get for him. With two years left on the deal and his not quite 30 yet now is the time to maximize our return for him. All things being equal would love to keep him, but we know that in order to invest in the squad we need to have some players leave to generate revenue for buys. We have some great young attacking talent in Saka, Nketiah, Pepe, Martinelli, etc. with Aubameyang and now William, but all really play either up top or wide. We need to find some through the middle… Read more »
Don’t know what to think about this. In one hand, he is perhaps the player we could get the most money for, which can come handy to reshape the squad. But in the other hand, that would leave us with not many options, Auba centrally, Gabi/Saka/William/Nelson on the wings, but if Auba get injured or need a break, we would be short. Still, not sold on Nketiah, and while I think Gabi have immense potential, would be bollocks to put that much of weight on his shoulders
The only thing I think Eddie matches Laca at this time is work off the ball and maybe movement. Laca is better at link up play, finishing and strength. If we plan to use the current 3-4-3 set up we need Laca.
Wenger said usually a striker’s finishing comes naturally after he has worked on the other aspects of his play, Eddie is still in that phrase and until he gets out of it we need Laca.
Yep. Eddie needs another season or so to find his rhythm.
Selling Lacazette at this moment in time is ridiculous, especially given our lofty (sic) aspirations.
I think letting this lad go would be a massive, massive mistake – if we’re serious about trying to get back in the top four. He’s a proven goal scorer and has a great rapport with the team, especially Auba.
Still, what do I know. There’s Stan’s money that needs to be made.
Que the hundred thumbs down…
Lacazette’s contract expires end of June 2022. We need to make a decision this summer. And quite frankly, as he is one of the more pricey assets we have, why not cash in and re-invest in midfield and buy a more junior striker. I am not 100% sold on Nketiah but we could also play Martinelli and Pepe as strikers if needed be.
We need to start selling – and start selling someone for reasonable money. It was going to be AMN and Martinez but events appear to have overtaken those prospective transfers now. But that still leaves the problem – who can we sell? Not who do we want to sell – many of those players nobody seems interested in buying, but who is “saleable” in the current market? Clearly Lacazette is one of the few we have that fits the bill. I strongly doubt we’ll get near what we paid for him, but it could still be a handy sum –… Read more »
yeah but sokratis salary helps pay for willians.
can we get welbz back on a free?
I appreciate the boldness of your business style.
More and more I’m of the opinion that if we sell Lacazette, we should replace him directly. He’s our best lone striker and Auba is still scoring loads from the left.
Selling him without replacement now will just make our attack weaker. Nketiah is a very good prospect but he’s still got a lot to improve on, and Martinelli is more of a winger than a CF, same with Pepe.
Very good point — Auba, though a striker, is performing superbly well on the left-side of our attack. Having a striker of Lacazette’s ability in the middle (able to drop off and link up play, able to scrap for goals in the box) and a young understudy in Nketiah on hand will be important this year to fighting for the top four. Martinelli is out for a while still. While we’ve proven our Plan B very well recently, and both Nketiah and Lacazette perform well in that model with their dogged work, I think we might need Lacazette for the… Read more »
Agree with this, plan A against defensively minded teams will probably need a striker that’s good coming deep and having their back to goal. As it stands Laca is the best at that at the club.
He is the best at that at the Club, but let’s be honest, he isn’t brilliant at it. He is not an incisive passer and he doesn’t have any real tricks in his game. Bergkamp he is not.
He is a hard worker and does have goals in him however.
I like Laca but he is not untouchable. And as others have said it is also about his contract and the ability to invest elsewhere in the team. Stick or twist time really.
selling Laca without a proper replacement will be a huge mistake. I am not sold on Eddie yet and it seems like Arteta prefers to play Auba from the left. As an out and out stirker, Laca is still the best option for the squad.
What does “keeping tabs” on him actually mean? They haven’t made a formal offer so there nothing yet.
They’re keeping tabs on us the same way as vultures keep tabs on a man stranded in the desert trying to make it to the next waterhole before his thirst can take no more punishment and the sun kills him.
For us, the waterhole is the Champion’s League and having a squad good enough that we don’t have to sell our proven players to finance new quality signings. The desert is our journey from mid table back to fourth place. Our thirst is our collective desire as fans and players for Champion’s League football.
The sun is Stan Kroenke.
If he goes, then we need someone new who can do what he does up front, holding up play and closing down on players. That’s how Arteta wants his lead striker to play.
We would need a similar player. But (and this isn’t directed so much at you by the way, Lord Bendnter) how much is that going to cost us to get a replacement up to or better than Laca’s standard….? You see, this is the bit that people conveniently forget when they’re merrily chirping away about how useless the squad is and flogging Bellerin, Lacazette, Torreira and AMN (Before the weekend, AMN was surplus to a lot of people’s requirements – come Saturday night, they were begging the club to keep him). After they’re gone, who are you going to bring… Read more »
Good player BUT his goal return is a bit poor, wouldn’t be too sad to lose him if we can get a better replacement.
A swap deal for Partey and a bid for Jovic who is young and out of the picture at Real Madrid.
I don’t know, but Lacazette has never made the impact that people hoped he would.
Or give Martinelli and Nketiah a chance as both are very high quality players and invest the money in a top quality attacking midfielder..
Or consider whether Pepe is your depth at #9 should something happen to Auba. We have quality wingers for days.
“He has never made the impact that people hoped he would”
Mate, he was Arsenal’s 2018/19 Player of the Season …..! ?
Sell Lacazette for a decent sum and get Suarez from Barcelona either on loan or permanently, he will score more goals than Lacazette. Suarez can play at a good level for 2-3 seasons.
Alternatively, sell Lacazette and get a younger striker who has good goalscoring record with potential to improve.
I believe that we really need to freshen up our squad.
We do need to freshen up the squad but to do so we need to offload quite a few players to do so. It’s been quiet so far but it appears that we’re beginning to move some players, albeit very slowly. We haven’t sold any for other than very small sums, and we only have a handful who could raise “biggish” fees – Lacazette is probably one. We may have to content ourselves mainly with a number of low value sales, loans, and possibly an exchange (but these are very difficult to pull off). Anyone with a spare £100 million… Read more »
I’m ambivalent about losing Lacazette but he is the player who holds and retains the ball best for us up top, particularly against congested teams who sit deep and constrict space. which is why I am not convinced extending Auba is necessarily the best option as he is generally poor competitively holding the ball under duress and without space to run into. Which will leave Nketiah (until Martinelli returns at least) as primary player up top and he is still learning the ropes. With priorities in other positions and strikers generally pricey, its not a position we want to have… Read more »
2 years left on his deal is the only thing that matters. People complaining about selling him will be the first to lament our boards bad selling when we lose him for 10mil next summer (or on a free a year after that). They will also be the first to complain if we offered yet another ageing player a bumper pay rise (especially after is inconsistent output last season).
End of the day we should be prepared to keep BOTH Auba and Laca… in which case we will have less money to reinforce with however as mentioned if we can move Holding, Mustafi, Sokratis, Torreira, Kolasinac to sum of 15m each, we should be able to get 70-75m in (Bearing in mind this is hopeful as we have a poor sales record and some of these may just go out on loan instead) Manghales cost 25m+, maybe we can get Diawara for about similar so that’s 50m out so we have another 25m, buy Ceballos. But if we want… Read more »
Sok going for 4M, Holding for a loan fee, Mustafi crocked and 1 year left on his contract and an awful reputation, Kola has a sky high wage and low technical and defensive ability. Only Torreira is going to bring in anything like what you hope for.
40-45M for all of them would be good business IMO
Santori. I also think we’ll do well to get more than 15M for Matteo G, figures of 40+ are absurd to me. Ilicic is in an interesting shout, but why would Atalanta let us have him for 1 year and why would he accept a 1 year contract? It’s not going to happen. Kalinac, is that his name?, the Croatian who was at Blackburn before, would be a similar idea, but probably same reasons for it not happening Luka Jovic loan with an option/obligation to buy would be much more exciting! Very interesting times at Arsenal. It appears that almost… Read more »
If he brings in some good money, we are over-stocked up front. Disregarding penalties, he has never been prolific and i never thought the forward line worked well with him as a lone central striker.
Mate, we are not overstocked.
Sell Laca and you only have Eddy, Reiss and our mate from Stamford Bridge – if Auba picks up a long term injury.
That’s a bit Old Mother Hubbard if you ask me….
What about Martinelli and Pepe. Laca is a good source of funds for an ailing midfield.
I think we need a big guy who can be dangerous against teams who park the bus. Someone who’s able to play the ‘Firmino role’, in that he sits deeper than the other forwards, is hard working defensively and offers both a threat as a goal scorer and provider. Someone who might not be as fast as Firmino (but still fast enough to be effective at pressing high), but who makes it up in aerial threat.
I wonder if Bruno Petkovic at Dinamo Zagreb would be a good fit. He’s 6’3” tall and looks like he has the same kind of build as Giroud. Apparently, he prefers to be a provider, rather than a goalscorer, and he’s pretty good with the ball for a big guy.
My current favourite Arsenal player. I hope Arteta keeps Laca we need world class players to win the league ffs. Also tough seeing Ceballos training in a Madrid jersey, tough times these
Ideally our first team – ……………………………………….Laca……………………………………….. Auba………………………………………………………………………..Willian ………………..Aouar………………………………Ceballos…………………. Tierney…………………………Granit………………………………..Bellerin …………………..Manghales…………………..Saliba……………………….. ……………………………………….Leno………………………………………. This would be a very strong team (bar jury still out on Cbacks….Mari also question mark, Luiz I guess the only known quantity bar say Chambers retained maybe) Plus with Saka, Pepe, Nelson on wings, Martinelli and Nketiah up top lots of options, in midfield Willock and Diawara….Cedric and AMN fullbacks…Leno or Martinez no preference both strong… This team would both have sufficient flexibility and balance. enough youth coming through but also experience ready to go. But I can’t see us affording Aouar at the moment with commitments coming… Read more »
Just my opinion? but it looks obvious to me that we’re to cash-in if the price is right. The boss seems to favor Eddie over Lacazette. Eddie was getting the nod over Laca before he got his 3 match suspension; those decisions spoke volumes to me back then, and Eddie seems (even in these early moments of his first team career) that he is a more natural goal scorer than Laca, and more importantly? a “home-grown” ready-made replacement.
Eddie also is better at pressing which is a key element to Mikel’s tactics. While Laca is our best at hold up play, Eddie impressed me in that area. I also liked Eddie’s one touch ideas around the box.
Bottom line, Eddie and an upgrade at AM is better than Laca and a void at AM.
If we let him go then what? Do we keep hold of Balogun and hope he then wants to stay playing as an occasional sub? We don’t have a great deal of experience at centre forward if we continue to play Auba wide. Unless he becomes the central striker, finally. Or does Pepe become more of a central striker? With Nelson and Saka we have two good wide attackers but it all begins to feel a little light if we take out Laca. You need a few decent strikers otherwise you end up in a situation like the one where… Read more »