Arsenal Transfer News: Latest Rumours on Alexandre Lacazette and Olivier Giroud

Arsenal are reportedly close to sealing a £50 million move for Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette, with Gunners manager Arsene Wenger convinced the Ligue 1 outfit are finally ready to cash in on their star player.

According to Mark Irwin and Andrew Dillon in The Sun, Arsenal are ready to spend a club-record fee on the Frenchman, and although Lacazette is still to be convinced to move to north London having previously wanted UEFA Champions League football, his position has softened after a switch to Atletico Madrid collapsed.

The Gunners have been linked with Lacazette, 26, for some time and had a €35 million (£29.3 million) bid for him rejected by Lyon last summer, per the Press Association (via the Guardian).

It is little surprise they are ready to go back in for the France international, as he proved again last season just how effective a goalscorer he is.

Lacazette netted 28 Ligue 1 goals in 30 appearances in 2016-17 as Lyon finished fourth, taking his overall French top-flight tally for the past three seasons to 76 goals in 97 matches, per WhoScored.com.

That is a remarkable record and proof that he is one of the better finishers in Europe.

Arsenal need a prolific striker in their ranks. Alexis Sanchez operated well as a No. 9 last season but could be similarly effective back in his more natural role on the left flank with Lacazette in the centre.

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Olivier Giroud is Arsenal's most prominent conventional striker, but he has never scored more than 16 goals in a single Premier League campaign, per WhoScored. 

Per Irwin and Dillon, Frenchman Giroud could leave Arsenal for £20 million should the club sign Lacazette, with West Ham United the front-runners to snap him up.

The 30-year-old has been a fine servant for Arsenal since he joined the club for just under £10 million from Montpellier in 2012.

But he is not a world-class striker, and the Gunners would likely be more threatening in attack with Lacazette in the squad rather than Giroud.