Arsenal Women have made a bid for Benfica’s Canadian forward Cloé Lacasse. The 29-year-old was a firm target for Jonas Eidevall in January but an agreement could not be reached with the Portuguese champions.
The Gunners have now lodged a bid as reported by Portuguese journalist Ines Sampaio. The clubs are negotiating a fee as Lacasse’s contract runs until next summer and Benfica will be no pushovers in this regard, however, Arseblog News understands the chances of a deal are good.
Can confirm that #ArsenalWFC have made an offer for #Benfica and #CANWNT‘s Cloé Lacasse, clubs are negotiating, and if it happens it will be a record-breaking transfer for Portuguese women’s football. https://t.co/SGNg37R5WI
— Ines Braga Sampaio (@ines4sampaio) June 20, 2023
Lacasse was named Player of the Season in Portugal last season where she scored 22 goals, the most in the division, and had 14 assists, also the most in the division. She will be playing for Canada in the World Cup this summer.
Arseblog News also understands that there are advanced negotiations for a centre-half and that the club would like to bring in a further centre-half this summer too. Arsenal remain firm favourites to land Alessia Russo on a free transfer, the firm feeling we have is that there is unlikely to be anything official on that before June 30 when Russo’s Manchester United deal expires. You will also notice that Aston Villa confirmed the departure of goalkeeper Hannah Hampton at the end of her contract last week but Chelsea, who she will sign for, have yet to make any public comment on that deal.
Are they working on one deal at a time because it’s been awhile since the rumours started and them finally making an offer now…
You don’t make a bid without talking to / negotiating with a club as to what the fee they want is.
Thank you for the clarification, Tim. Also, if you don’t mind me asking, when do you take a break? You’ve been working all season and it seems you haven’t stopped as yet.
I wonder what happens to Blackstenius if we’re getting both Russo and Lacasse. Great idea to be moving quickly though.
I reckon we’d also need at least one defender after the departure of Rafaelle
Lacasse usually plays wide, she’s actually very ‘Beth.’ There is a centre-back is in the works and I think they want another one after that.
Thanks for clarifying that. Jonas and the board are showing good intent. Would be an interesting season
I do hope so (about the additional CB). A CB/DLP hybrid in the style of Dominique Janssen or Ms Jennifer Beattie herself back in the day would be fabulous, but I’ll take any CB!
I have read that she is very two-footed, if so that would be a bonus.
Exciting! Fingers crossed for a Lacasse deal.
Tim, do you know if Arsenal are interested in Hanna Lundkvist of Atletico Madrid?
Don’t (atm) believe there is interest in Lundkvist, she doesn’t have enough points for a permit and that wouldn’t change until after the WC.
Ah, ok. Thanks. That’s a shame.
Perhaps the new exceptions panel could help in this case?
But we wouldn’t need her until after the World Cup!
Very good news. Hoping at least one of the center-half players can play in midfield like Williamson can so we have a good option for when Walti is unavailable without reshuffling everyone
There is DM interest…
Tim, stop it. Too much excitement!
Is that Tatiana Pinto or someone else?
Thanks Tim – is the “advanced negotiations” CB the same player as the one “from a big European club” that you referenced in the Russo article from last week?
Nope.
Thanks for clarifying!
As mud, since there are now two names we don’t know!
Teaser Tim!!!
The plot thickens! 🙂
I’d assume we have interest in signing Amanda Ilestedt because it just makes a lof of sense and above all, she’s a free agent.
I’ve been thinking about that and I’m not so sure. In Rafa and Leah we have lost (for next season) two exceptional ball players. From what Swedish Gunner said, Ilestedt is not especially good on the ball. It isn’t Lotte’s main strength either, though she has improved. I think our style of play demands at least one CB (who will start regularly, so not Jen) who can be a playmaker and is very confident on the ball, so maybe that isn’t Ilestedt?
Ilestedt made 100 progressive passes in the Division 1 Féminine last season, which ranked second amongst all natural CB (the first is Wendie Renard who made 154 and played 393 minutes more than Ilestedt. I think that’s good enough for us. Unfortunately the talent pool is small so unless we are willing to pay a premium for Viggósdóttir, I don’t think we’ll get a better CB on the ball than Ilestedt.
I think Amanda Ilestedt is one of the two centerbacks because it makes a lot of sense. Last friday she departured from PSG and now Arsenal are in negotiations with a CB. She is pretty good at finding progressive passes through the lines and also long crosses. But on the ball there are better CB:s than her but she is still good, otherwise she would not have been playing in Bayern and PSG. She is a decent and a little bit underrated CB and when Williamson comes back they can start building of something great. We will never find a… Read more »
I’m not disputing that she is a great player. I just wasn’t sure, based on your description of her, whether she was the right replacement for Rafa.
I think you are right about that. She is probably not a replacement for Rafa but I dont think we can find a player like Rafa in this transferwindow, simply because she is unique as a leftfooted CB. We have to find other solutions in the build up.
I saw that Laia Codina is about to leave Barca this summer and was linked to England among other leagues.
So Codina and Ilestedt!🤩 That is my dreamsignings from now on😉
You have good taste in players, Swedish Gunner, so I hope your wishes come true! 👍
I see that Amanda Ilestedt also plays RB, which is interesting. That would give us short-term cover/rotation for Noelle Maritz.
Yes she can! So maybe the problem with our fullbacks can be solved by Ilestedt also.
The thing is that both Stina and Amanda are two of my favourite players in Sweden so it would be like a dream coming true if this will happening. My favourite players, playing for my favourite club is just to good. But we will see if Ilestedt will arrive or not. Either way I hope they will land a topp-class defender this summer, or two👍 Janssen would be a good name also if she wants to leave Germany.
Not sure Dominique would want to come back to Arsenal given her comment after the first leg of the CL semi stating that Wolfsburg were obviously the better team!
Worth noting that, per 90 minutes this season, Ilestedt played nearly twice as many progressive passes as the (somewhat over-rated IMHO) Maya Le Tissier, but was still way behind Leah W, as indeed was everybody else in Europe.
Yes, we had such an outstanding CB pairing! They are both irreplaceable, really. That’s our problem.
Actually, Mapi León made more progressive passes per 90 than Williamson, but we know she is not for sale.
Yes, you’re quite right. Not sure how I missed that…
Anna Patten evidently did very well on loan to Aston Villa, playing CB I thought. “Like a new signing”.
I think she’s definitely staying at AV, though.
Love this idea. Fantastic and underrated player, great way to get depth into the squad, ease Beth back into things and not need her to play every minute straight away, and perfect complement to the overall philosophy.
Any movement on Tomás? We really need another RB while Laura’s out.
Couldn’t agree more about Lacasse. Clinical, two-footed, can play either side or in the middle, hatfuls of assists as well as goals. She sounds perfect.
How do you play both Russo and Stina at the same time? Viv (if still here) plays #10.
You don’t! It’s about having depth in the squad that the top teams have and we have been missing for seasons!