Barcelona are reportedly ready to splash the cash to bring in a centre-forward in the summer and have their eyes locked on Arsenal striker Alexandre Lacazette.
British publication Express have run an exclusive that might well put a dent in Unai Emery’s rebuilding process at Arsenal. Barcelona are looking to add to their options in their frontline and are looking to engineer a summer move for Alexandre Lacazette to strengthen their central attack.
The report states that Barcelona are readying a £70 million bid in the summer for Lacazette, which could prove hard to turn down for Unai Emery, who would love to add the aforementioned sum to the tight summer budget he is likely to receive from the Arsenal hierarchy.
Alexandre Lacazette has had an interesting stint at Arsenal since joining from Lyon for a club record fee in 2017. After a decent first season, Lacazette saw himself being pushed to a squad rotation role under new manager Unai Emery, who preferred to field Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang upfront.
But, slowly, Emery saw that playing both the strikers resulted in a more pragmatic and resourceful attack and Lacazette made his way back into the starting eleven. Cut to May and the Frenchman has just been named the club’s Player of the Year for the season, showing just how much he has managed to impress everyone, including Barcelona, who are now hot on his heels.
The Catalans have been looking to add to their striking options for a while now. Paco Alcacer was brought in to eventually take over from Luis Suarez. But, the Spaniard failed to be a squad player at the club and seems to have found a suitable setting for his abilities at Borussia Dortmund.
Barcelona have just Suarez as an option and the Uruguayan hasn’t exactly been setting the stage on fire this season, with a streak of poor performances abridging short bursts of brilliance. With Suarez now 32, Barcelona need a striker to take over from him. But, signing youngsters could lead to the same problem as Alcacer, which is why they seemed to have turned their focus to the in-form Lacazette.
Arsenal would not want to part ways with Lacazette. But, should Barcelona come in with an offer of £70 million, Emery could opt to use the funds generated from Lacazette’s sale to strengthen the overall squad. Barcelona have already lost the race to sign Luka Jovic according to reports, with the player set to join Real Madrid in the summer.
Ernesto Valverde & co. will now look to hit the jackpot, with the Arsenal superstar.