Juventus have reportedly decided to end their pursuit of Arsenal striker Alexandre Lacazette, who is out of contract at the end of the season.
According to a report from Italian publication ANSA, Serie A bigwigs Juventus have ended their interest in Arsenal centre-forward Alexandre Lacazette, who will be a free agent in the summer transfer window.
Lacazette has been with Arsenal since 2017 when he arrived from Olympique Lyon. He has been a fairly consistent source of goals for the north London giants, even though there have been some dry spells during his stint at the Emirates Stadium. To date, the 30-year-old has made 187 appearances for the Gunners, bagging 70 goals and 32 assists.
Lacazette finished the last season as Arsenal’s top scorer and has now taken over as the club captain, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang falling out of favour with manager Mikel Arteta after several disciplinary breaches. However, his contract with the Premier League club runs out at the end of the season, at which point he is expected to leave the north London club.
Lacazette’s situation has attracted serious interest from clubs in England and across Europe. Juventus, too, were one of the clubs keen on securing his services in the winter transfer window, or at least at the end of the season when his contract would run out.
The Serie A giants lost Cristiano Ronaldo in the summer to Manchester United and have struggled with the Portuguese international’s goals. Paulo Dybala has shown signs of form but has had to do it all alone, as Alvaro Morata and Moise Kean have hardly been consistent thus far.
Furthermore, Juventus are unlikely to sign Morata permanently either, with the Spaniard being linked with a shock move to Barcelona in the January transfer window. So, the Bianconeri are on the lookout for a new goalscorer with Lacazette having been identified as a target.
However, as per the report mentioned above, the Old Lady have decided to end their pursuit of the Frenchman. Instead, the Italian bigwigs will be focusing on their attentions completely on Sassuolo striker Gianluca Scamacca. As for Lacazette, it was always highly unlikely that Arsenal would have let him midway through the season, especially with the situation surrounding Aubameyang being as it is.
Whether he ends up moving away from the Emirates at the end of the season or signs a new contract with the Gunners remains to be seen.
