Wenger eyes summer swoop for £45m Fekir

Arsene Wenger has identified Lyon midfielder nabil Fekir as his no 1 summer target.

The Arsenal manager is willing to pay £45million for the 24-year-old, who should be a key member of France’s World Cup squad in June.

Fekir (below), who scored in Lyon’s 3-1 Europa League win over Villarreal on Thursday night, has been compared to France hero Youri Djorkaeff, who helped his country become world champions in 1998 and win the European Championship two years later.

Lyon will be reluctant to lose their star man, but have shown they will sell important players if the price is right, having let Alexandre Lacazette go to Arsenal for £52.7m last summer. Wenger has tracked Fekir’s development closely, while he has also been watched by Arsenal’s French scout Gilles Grimandi. He has previously been linked with a move to real Madrid. Wenger wants a deal agreed before Fekir reports for World Cup duty. He is also confident of landing West Bromwich Albion central defender Jonny Evans in a £25m transfer, after failing to sign the 30-year-old in January.