West Ham United are reportedly preparing an offer to sign Arsenal striker Alexandre Lacazette.
According to TEAMtalk, West Ham are interested in Alexandre Lacazette and are ready to offer him a deal to be in pole position to complete his signing in the upcoming summer transfer window. The Frenchman’s contract with Arsenal runs down in the summer, and he would be free to join any club on a Bosman move.
Arsenal have refrained from offering the former Lyon star a new long-term deal and have delayed talks over a new deal until the summer, leading to speculations that he could move on at the end of the season on a free transfer.
A Lyon academy product, the 30-year-old was one of the most wanted strikers in the transfer market when scoring for fun for the French side. Lacazette netted 129 goals in 275 matches for Les Gones, finishing as the club’s third-highest goal-scorer of all time.
The centre-forward started getting noticed by Europe’s top clubs from the 2013/14 season when he scored 15 league goals for Lyon. In the following three seasons, he scored 27, 21 and 28 league goals, respectively, which prompted Arsenal to shell out €53 million for him in the 2017 summer window. But the Frenchman could never reach the heights of his Lyon days in London.
Lacazette’s best in an Arsenal shirt came in his very first season when he scored 14 goals in the Premier League. But he has failed to better that mark, eventually falling down the pecking order. The signing of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang further limited his game-time and he often found himself coming on from the bench.
Arsenal have yet to offer him a long-term deal, even after Aubameyang was shipped to Barcelona after a fall-out with manager Mikel Arteta. The Frenchman is now poised to leave on a free transfer, and West Ham United have emerged as potential suitors, along with the likes of Juventus and AS Roma.
West Ham are looking for attacking reinforcements as they seek more options in the No. 9 position. They were actively looking for a forward in January but failed to land any. They have now identified Lacazette as a possible summer signing and are ready to offer him a multi-year deal. The aforementioned report also states that the Frenchman could prefer staying back in England, making West Ham the favourites.
In Lacazette, the Hammers will get a striker with ample Premier League experience, but they will have to move quickly as Lyon, Inter, AC Milan and Aston Villa have recently shown interest in the centre-forward.
