Alexandre Lacazette has begun the season well in terms of goalscoring, netting for the second successive week in last night’s 2-1 win over West Ham.
It was his 50th Arsenal goal, coming after 129 appearances, at the start of his fourth season with the club, and it helped Mikel Arteta’s side take all three points despite a poor performance overall.
The Frenchman’s future is still somewhat up in the air, however. He insisted last week he was happy in North London, and his manager was publicly positive about what he brings to the team, but with less than two years left on his current deal – and at 29 – he is a candidate for departure to bring in much needed transfer funds.
Speaking after the win over the Hammers, Arteta again expressed his pleasure with the player, but left the door open by confirming there is no new deal on offer right now.
“At the moment, we haven’t started any negotiations,” he said.
“We have a lot of things still to do in this market and at the moment we are focusing on those things.
“He’s a player I’m really happy with. I think we’ve shown him a lot of faith since I arrived here, but we cannot start any speculation.
“We know that any player who is under two years of their contract is always going to be talked about.”
Reading between the lines, it sounds like Arsenal are open to offers. The lack of any new contract offer suggests we’re looking to move in a different direction at some point, and if he can generate the right kind of price, chances are we’ll sell.
Eddie Nketiah demonstrated his penalty box prowess too, with a late winner after good work from Bukayo Saka and Dani Ceballos, something Arteta was keen to comment on afterwards.
“It’s so important for him and for the team as well,” he said.
“It’s a clear message for everybody on the bench, that they have a clear mission when they come on.
“Whether it’s one minute or 45 minutes, they come on to help the team and today Eddie was massively important. He did his job really well.”
Best be wise to extend it for obvious reasons.
Hope we land aouar. We need Central creativity and Pepe needs to step up more.
I think if the transfer window closes and we haven’t sold Alex, we will probably try and get an extra year.
But with first teamers Willan, Luiz, Auba and Laca all beginning to slow down, we need to start thinking a little more coherently about the future. For obvious reasons Laca is the one who would be sellable.
He’s scored a couple of goals – both of which you would expect almost any striker to score – and I still think if someone comes in at +£25m we need to really have a think about it.
25 million?? You are having a laugh. He is worth more In a market where average players are being sold for 50 million
Perhaps. I think 35m would be his absolute ceiling personally given his average to good goalscoring record, his clear loss of pace and his age.
But I’d be very happy to be proved wrong.
J4H – normally I’m in agreement, but this time I’ll have to agree to differ.
I think it would be absolute folly to sell Laca. His experience alone means that he is perfect if – God forbid – Auba picks up an injury. It’s going to be a long old season, we’re trying to get back into the ECL and it would be asking too much of Eddie if Auba was grounded for any length of time.
Laca’s experience is equally important to us as his goals. Sell him and it will come back to bite us. Big time.
Yeah man, I totally get your opinion. You’re a man that talks a lot of sense.
You never know though, what’s not to say we’ve got our eyes on a 23 year old for £20m who would be an awesome replacement?
I think if I had to chose between a great CM and Laca, I’m going with the CM. Last night proved we are lacking in that area.
I do quite like the links with Celtic’s Edouard, he could be a good replacement if Laca were to be sold and hopefully leave 10M + over to put towards a midfielder.
I do like Laca but I don’t think he is indispensable or going to improve much from what he is. Edouard has a bit more of that Giroud physicality which could be useful to us and is probably quicker than Laca too. Plus he is a lot younger and I would guess would come on lower wages. It makes a lot of sense
There’s no way Eddy would be 10m cheaper than Laca, he’s going to go for more than KT did (Celtic and Arsenal fan)
no one comes into this club on low wages
Auba slowing down?? Was he not clocked as the fastest player in the PL last season?! If that’s him slowing down, I don’t think we have much to worry about there.
Well we could have a Ryan Giggs on our hands, you never know.
But it’s far more likely that over this year and the next Auba will become less athletic. That’s nothing critical, just human biology.
As much as Auba is a wonderful character and an even better player, he’s not the future of AFC.
Doesn’t need to be the future, he is the present!!
That’s all very well but if we’re not careful we are going to get to 2022 and realise a lot of our important first team members are well over 30 and we have to spend a fortune on replacements. By slowly changing the fabric of the team, we avoid this and make a bit of money in the process.
how is auba slowing down been on absolute fire since he joined us. willian has played 2 games done pretty well but hes slowing down? laca 2 goals in 2 games. £25 million is peanuts for a striker of his class
We need Laca to stay. Why weaken our front line when it is good?
I thought yesterday although Laca didn’t have a great game like most of his teammates.. he still scored and I thought his hold up play was excellent. His work rate was also something we cannot question too.
He is still a very important player in our squad and we simply should not sell.
Cannot afford to lose out on 40mn because “he works hard” he has so many limitations it harms our game. His job can be done by Nketiah
Don’t decieve your self cuz he scored a tap in last night
What game were you watching last night?
He scored a very good header. If that was a goal you considered to be a tap in.. I think I have got to remind not every goal that is scored is a 30 to 40 yard stunner.
So much hate.
He’s talking about Nketiah being able to do Lacazette’s job.
Ah! My bad.
Nketiah is a good player.. he has got an eye for the goal. But I do doubt it that he would able to replace Laca right away only taking his age and inexperience into consideration.
Nketiah so far appears to be a good poacher, And good poachers are a valuable resource, but the evidence isnt yet there to suggest his game is at the level of Laca. If Laca goes we would need a further developed player in his place while Nketiah contiunes to improve
Well said, top post.
Who’s offering £40m…..? ?
Such is our poor status at the moment, thanks to Kroenke, clubs are more likely to offer 40 pence…..
Eddie is underrated by our fans. There is almost no daylight between him and Laca now. The fact that Eddie worked his tail off adding muscle during the lock down shows his hunger to be even better.
We all want the 2018 Laca back but sadly I think that ship has sailed. If his sale brings us the midfield help we need, then make it happen.
Nketiah is miles away from Laca
Top post, well said. ?
For the same reason we sold Martinez and have our hearts in our mouth when Leno takes a tumble – we need the money to improve the midfield.
Part of the reason Laca is having to work hard is because our midfield is not able to dominate.
Ofcourse ideally we would sell the players that Arteta wants to, at a good price but such offers aren’t coming in. Hence we are having to take a rise and sell others that we quite don’t want to.
I do understand.. but I believe we are not going to be able to afford a couple of midfielders like we would ideally need. It looks like the max we can afford is bringing in one midfielder and the sale of Martinez along with selling Torriera and Kolasinac should cover that up.
I don’t think we are in a desperate need financially to sell Laca if you would ask me.
Some fans don’t know what we need, they just want
We need a consistent poacher, presser and a striker that can give us options with runs in lanes
You might say he’s a poacher but his he consistent
Liverpool and bayern have shown us that u need know when to move on from players who maybe great to players that fit in
Lacazette is good but can’t fit in and so are many players eating up wages and spac in the club
So who exactly has Bayern moved on in the recent past apart from Thiago who is still widely considered to be world class and has been picked up by the EPL champs? And what about Liverpool who had to move on Coutinho who publicly put in a transfer request to move to Barca? Some fans clearly have no idea! The press hypes up a potential new player and all they do is jump around without having watched him play. All they do is listen to the press. Someone slacks a player and they all get behind. Watch the game understand… Read more »
Hmm. Unless Auba is considered ripe for a central striker move, then we seem short in that position, incredibly so if Laca is sold. I hope Martinpele gets fit soon!
Tricky situation. In one hand I would love for Laca to stay (dressing room morale cannot be ignored), while on the other we have Martinelli and Eddie who will eventually take over the CF role.
If Laca can show us the goals and hold up play this coming season I don’t see a reason why we shouldn’t keep him. However I doubt we’ll extend his contract.
I kinda agree. I know what was said before about the 2 year cut off but given current scenario I’d say its worth keeping him, even without a new deal. Sell him next year. Fee will no doubt be less but he’ll go with Eddie, Martinelli and a few of the other young guns a year more advanced, and hopefully having contributed to a top 4 finish which would be worth more than the difference in transfer fees. I imagine that if he did go we’d need a replacement at some cost, and equally new contract would normally imply a… Read more »
This really is the sort of thing that boils my piss.
A top player, an international, a great rapport with the players, especially his striking partner – and he’s currently in form and enjoying his football.
So what are doing? Instead of building on the current feel good feeling of Auba’s deal, sorting out a decent contract, we are fucking about, twiddling our thumbs, Ho-humming – and clearly putting out vibes for offers. And we’re supposed to be going for top four.
Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic.
But we have no money havent you heard?
Weve had no money for about 14 years now must still be paying off the stadium and investing in projest youth.
or our wage bill is crippling us like every other big team doesnt have big squads on big wages.
people buy this horseshit about how we have no money so easily
when are arsenal gonna start acting like a big club again.
For the right price I think he will leave. While I like him and would want him to stay if his sale generates funds to strengthen other areas and opens the door for Aubameyang in the middle, and Eddie and Martinelli (when he’s back) starting games then that wouldn’t be a bad thing either.
It’s the same as the goalie situation. Ideally we kept both Leno and Martínez. But we’re not in the position to have talent overload in areas and such clear deficiencies in others. We have depth and strength in forwards. Ideally we keep that. But the reality is we need to sell to invest. Simply put we need midfield upgrade more than we need lacazette. Eddie isn’t laca, but I think he’s 90% there. We also have auba, martinelli, and pepe and even balogun that could all play as striker. Our midfield is xhaka, ceballos, elneny, douzi??, willock (considering torreira is… Read more »
So ideally wed like to be a big club with a strong squad and challenge for major trophies
but in reality we are also rans who need to sell some of our best players to improve other areas of our squad?
Sounds about right
We cannot only have one experienced striker at the club, however much potential Eddie and Gabi have. If Auba got injured we’d be SO weak. Laca is quality, and a crucial part of the team. It’s great Eddie is pushing him. Hopefully Arteta can get him creating a little more, but he’s currently essential.
*we
I like Laca and I would like to keep him, but we have an embarrassment of riches in attack now so maybe there is some logic to this.
Unsure how we will play if he goes though. I guess Auba up top is the obvious idea.
e can move auba to a CF role and still have pepe willian nelson saka martinelli for the flanks. We have enough good bodies so i wont mind a straight partey laca swap
Laca’s value could have even higher if for last few seasons we had that creative midfield or even a system in place. Arteta has established one but it is more for defensive robustness. Not everyone can be auba’s scoring spree also laca like other two yesterday was spared of any creative link up. I think a team which clicks and is on top these days even get their avg ones sold for what we might get for our top players. There was time where our players would get sold for such great profits because we were doing great as a… Read more »
This should not be surprising. Lacazette is probably our only expendable asset at the moment who will generate a substantial amount of money. Secondly, even under tempered expectations, he is impeding Nketiah, definitely Martinelli and likely John-Jules (who had his loan “well-managed” before being sent to Doncaster). Then there is that George Lewis guy everyone thinks is good.
Point is, he is the only one whom Arteta can sacrifice for big short term gain, and has at least one short-term internal replacement.
Likely we will attempt to move him on next summer. he may still move this summer but highly unlikely bar injuries in CL teams. A contract improvement will substantially bring in more money but may also make him more difficult to sell. If he bangs them in this season of course, this is less of an issue. So far up to a good start. As mentioned, we will need someone like him. we play mainly against packed defenses where we can lose our way. we need someone who can operate in tight confines, is competitive for the ball and can… Read more »
central midfielders will pretty much always complete the most passes in any game.
I know he’s a professional and it’s probably silly of me to think this way as Arsenal needs to do what’s right but aside from wages another consideration is he’s Aubameyang’s best mate. And a happy Auba is a happy Arsenal.
Keep him you need such guys for other competitions, please sell Ozil, bring in another defensive midfielder, Torreira seems to be on his way out which is a shame, and a new 10. There is no creativity in the middle of the park and no power up front. Arsenal should have signed Thiago Silva, he was brilliant yesterday. Arteta should pursue a young striker in the mold of Robert Lewandowski, loan out Reiss Nelson, Willian is there. Not to happy with Gareth Bale joining spurs. My prediction Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea and perhaps Arsenal if we are lucky and consistent… Read more »
ahh sign a young lewandowski why didnt anyone else think of that genius. lets sign a young midfielder in the mold of vieria and a winger in the mold of messi while were at it