Arsenal Must Spend Big to Land Transfer Target Alexandre Lacazette

In some ways, it’s surprising that it’s taken so long for news of Arsenal’s interest in Alexandre Lacazette to be officially confirmed.

The Gunners’ hunt for a new striker has seen them linked with a string of names, but the France international’s always rang true. The question now is whether the club are prepared to pay the price needed to prise him away from Lyon.

The news that the Gunners are after Lacazette has come via the French club. In an official statement in response to disruptive rumours, they said (h/t the Mirror's Darren Lewis and Joe Mewis):

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Olympique Lyonnais categorically deny having received an offer of €48million from Arsenal for the transfer of Alexandre Lacazette, as Le Progres report this morning.

The club is disappointed that Le Progres didn't go to the effort of contacting us before publishing this false information, which creates confusion on the day the club is publishing its annual figures.

The reality is that Arsenal made a €35million bid, which Olympique Lyonnais turned down for one reason: l'OL will keep Alexandre Lacazette, who is irreplaceable and who is one of the main leaders in Bruno Genesio's squad.

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Lacazette fits the profile of player Arsenal are after. He is a quick, mobile striker who provides an obvious alternative to Olivier Giroud. He’s also a proven goalscorer—last season he racked up 21 goals in 34 Ligue 1 appearances. 

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Manager Arsene Wenger has plundered French football for some of his most astute purchases, and there’s no way he could have missed Lacazette’s dramatic rise.

A product of the Lyon academy, he initially made his first-team breakthrough as a winger. That’s the same transition that previous Wenger strikers like Thierry Henry and Robin van Persie made with such success. 

The Arsenal boss is on record about his belief that an apprenticeship on the flanks can be the making of a player. The confined spaces force players to work on the close control that can later prove invaluable in crowded penalty boxes. In Lacazette’s case, it also appears to have allowed him to develop a good understanding of how to exploit the channels between full-back and centre-half.

Lacazette’s speed and intelligence make him difficult to track, and as a rule, he is composed when presented with the opportunity to score.

He’s the right age profile, too. On the day when 28-year-old Gonzalo Higuain completed his £75.3 million move to Juventus (h/t BBC Sport), it’s absolutely typical that Wenger is linked with a forward three years the Argentinian’s junior. There’s no way he’s going to spend huge money on a player with no real residual value.

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However, he may have to extend beyond his usual parsimonious ways. Sky Sports' Nick Lustig reported that Lyon value Lacazette at around £40 million. That would make him the second-most expensive signing in Arsenal’s history. 

Wenger has shown in the past that he is prepared to bend the budget when necessary. With the fans in open revolt after the opening-day defeat to Aston Villa in 2013, he admitted he was prepared to spend "a bit over the market, as long as it is not crazy" to sign Mesut Ozil, per David Hytner of the Guardian. Make no mistake, it’s equally vital he does so this summer. 

While Arsenal fans will be reassured that the club are at least attempting to be proactive in the market, they will be concerned that they appear to have submitted an offer substantially lower than one for the same player from West Ham United.

According to L'Equipe (h/t Liam Spence of the Daily Express), the Hammers have already bid as much as £40 million for Lacazette’s services. 

Perhaps part of Wenger’s reticence is that Lacazette was not his first choice. Arsenal’s ill-fated move for Jamie Vardy suggests he was more prominent in the manager's thoughts than his fellow Frenchman.

With such an in-depth knowledge of Ligue 1, one imagines that Wenger would have moved for Lacazette before now if he’d ever been truly convinced by him. 

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The more time goes on, the more it feels as if the decision to pursue Vardy was informed by economic as well as footballing factors. In a transfer market that is spiralling out of recognition and, arguably, control, his release clause meant he represented real value. 

The situation is complicated by Arsenal’s other transfer requirements. Their need to land a defender has been exacerbated by the news that Per Mertesacker will miss the start of the season with what appears to be a fairly serious injury.

Per Arsenal's website, a concerned Wenger said:

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We have bad news on Per Mertesacker. He played in Lens on Friday night, he finished the game and had a little pain on his knee. We found out the next day that it was much more serious than expected. He had surgery yesterday in Germany. It all went well. I know you will ask me for how long he will be out. I don’t know that, it’s [some] months, but I don’t know [exactly] how long he will be out for.

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The Gunners boss seems to be being deliberately vague about the length of the German’s absence. Perhaps that’s an attempt to disguise Arsenal’s desperation in the market. Public panic would only empower selling clubs. 

Although Arsenal will probably need a new defender to cover for Mertesacker’s absence, they can at least still call on Laurent Koscielny, Gabriel Paulista and Calum Chambers—three international centre-halves. There’s also new signing Rob Holding, who, having been handed the No. 16 shirt, can expect to be a part of the first-team squad.

Up front, things do not look quite so rosy.

Giroud will miss the start of the season recuperating from Euro 2016, and Danny Welbeck is out injured, which leaves Wenger with just Theo Walcott, Chuba Akpom and Yaya Sanogo to choose from. Two of those players are highly inexperienced, and the other was unconvincing in his stint as a centre-forward last season.

Had Welbeck not succumbed to a cartilage problem, it’s possible Walcott’s subpar performances might even have seen him sold.

Lacazette may be the best available striker Arsenal can get. In their chase for a forward, the Gunners are running out of two things: time and options.

One thing they’re not short of is money, and Wenger must prepare to part with plenty of it if he is to get their man.

James McNicholas is Bleacher Report's lead Arsenal correspondent and will be following the club from a London base throughout 2016/17. Follow him on Twitter here.