A deal is inching ever closer as Arsenal prepare to announce Alexandre Lacazette as the first signing of the summer – involving a transfer fee anyway.
Having successfully completed his medical the Lyon forward should complete his proposed Gunners switch imminently.
Lacazette’s £45m club record deal, which could eventually reach up to £52m with add-ons, will surpass the £42.4m paid to Real Madrid when Arsenal signed Mesut Ozil.
A proven goalscorer in Ligue 1 – only Paris Saint Germain’s Edinson Cavani, 35 goals, scored more – Lacazette bagged himself 28 last season. Since breaking into Lyon’s first team during the 2009-10 campaign the French international has scored 129 in 275 appearances.
The signing of Lacazette, 26, would certainly prove Arsenal do mean business but what happens with Alexis Sanchez, Ozil and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, to a lesser extent perhaps, Jack Wilshere, regarding new contracts could be especially telling.
Meanwhile, news that seems to have passed us by, Arsenal recently lost a talented youngster to Benfica when Chris Willock joined the Portuguese champions at the end of his Gunners deal.
Willock, 19, came through the academy to make two first team appearances but wasn’t prepared to extend his Arsenal deal. The forward took up the challenge offered at Benfica to sign a long-term contract.
