MESMERISED
PROBABLE TEAMS SKY SPORTS MAIN EVENT, TODAY, KO 4PM Lacazette is a bargain at £50m says Wenger
Games between these two in the PL produced 17 goals in the 90th minute or later, more than any other fixture. ARSENE WENGER believes he secured a £50million bargain when he signed Alexandre Lacazette.
In a transfer window described by Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho as “crazy”, Wenger moved early to sign Lacazette from Olympique Lyon.
Asked if Arsenal would have had to pay more if they moved in now, with fees soaring after Neymar’s move to PSG, Wenger said: “Certainly. It depends sometimes on the timing. The inflation sometimes is so quick within the transfer market that the timing of your buys is very important.
“I think – considering the market – it is a decent price.”
There is now the chance of Lacazette forming a dream pairing with Alexis Sanchez, back in the squad for this afternoon’s clash with Liverpool at Anfield after injury and illness. And for Wenger it is a prospect to savour.
“It looks promising,” said Wenger, who is insistent that Sanchez will still be an Arsenal player when he returns from international duty with Chile early next month.
“The two are good goalscorers, the two are good finishers, the two are good passers. That means they can find each other.”
But Wenger also conceded that even such a dream-ticket of a strikeforce can still misfire.
And he recalled a conversation he had with former Liverpool defender Javier Mascherano after Luis Suarez moved to Barcelona to join up with Lionel Messi and Neymar.
“I spoke with Mascherano when Suarez moved there,” said the Frenchman. “We both came to the conclusion that if it worked it would be fantastic, but it could also be a disaster.
“But one of the qualities of Suarez is that he gets the best out of people around him. He did it with Uruguay. He did it at Liverpool, where with Raheem Sterling and Daniel Sturridge he scored more than 100 goals.”
It worked at the Nou Camp – and now Wenger is looking for goals from Lacazette.
He scored on his debut in the 4-3 win over Leicester and was unfortunate to have a goal ruled out for offside in the 1-0 defeat at Stoke eight days ago.
“He is still adapting to the team and the league,” said Wenger.
“He is a bit surprised by the intensity of it all – the training and the games.
“He will get there, because he is brave and he is intelligent. I feel every week he is getting better and stronger.
“And the team have to adapt to him as well.”