French fancies England face Arsenal targets Lacazette and Mbappe
Lyon forward emerges as firm target for Wenger Duo ready to join forces against England tonight
Arsenal have been quoted a fee of €55 million (£48.7 million) plus €12 million (£10.6 million) in addons to sign Alexandre Lacazette this summer.
Fresh talks have already taken place between Arsenal and Lacazette’s club, Lyon, over the future of the 26-year-old striker who is poised to start for France in tonight’s friendly against England in Paris. The forward is, therefore, emerging as a firm target for the Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger, who tried to sign him last year.
Against England Lacazette will play alongside Kylian Mbappé, who has also been the subject of interest from Arsenal. The Premier League club have already indicated to Monaco that they are prepared to pay €100million (£88.5million) for the 18-year-old, which has been rejected.
However, Arsenal have not yet given up hope of signing Mbappé despite strong opposition from other clubs led by Real Madrid who have offered even more – €120million (£106.2million) – although the deal is structured differently from Arsenal’s with less cash up front. Wenger, who held talks with Mbappé’s family last year, has also tried to convince the player that he will have more first-team chances at Arsenal.
Even so, Monaco expect to keep Mbappé for at least one more season – if they can get him to agree a new contract – and will resist all offers for another player Arsenal are interested in, midfielder Thomas Lemar, because they will not let both him and Tiemoué Bakayoko go in the same summer.
They are close to agreeing a deal to sell Bakayoko to Chelsea although there remains a discrepancy over the fee structure.
Nevertheless Bakayoko will leave for a minimum of £40million.
Lyon have accepted that it may be the summer for Lacazette, who has spent his whole career with them so far, finally to leave the club. A deal was in place for the striker to join Atlético Madrid but that collapsed when their Fifa transfer ban was upheld by the Court of Arbitration in Sport. Lacazette was keen on the move and is understood to be devastated that it fell through.
There is some caution from those close to Lacazette about Arsenal’s interest given they held talks last year and were unable to agree a deal despite initial suggestions that they would meet Lyon’s asking price. Wenger met Lacazette’s representatives in Lyon after France’s Euro 2016 last-16 fixture against the Republic of Ireland, and two bids were made although they fell short of what president Jean-michel Aulas was asking for.
West Ham United also failed in a series of offers last summer before Arsenal made their approach, with Lacazette eventually making it clear he did not want to join them.
The player turned down a more lucrative contract from Lyon last year to ensure he was available to leave at a more reasonable price now. Lyon regard the figures quoted to Arsenal as a starting point.
Meanwhile, Arsenal midfielder Alex Oxlade-chamberlain has admitted that he has suffered a “stop-start” career for England since first being selected for his country at Euro 2012.
“My England career, honestly, I feel like it is has been in two halves,” the Arsenal midfielder said. “I’m starting the second part of it. Everything came quite quick, and I got a lot of caps quite quickly, then was injured and had a spell out, missed the Euros. In this squad, a lot of new boys have come in so it feels like a new squad. Strange, but a new challenge and quite a refreshing one to be a part of. A bit stop-start, my career, but at this moment I have a lot of faith in this new team and the manager and what we’re trying to build here.”