Arsenal: Alexandre Lacazette hope comes from unlikely source

Atletico Madrid have had their transfer ban upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The decision offers major hope for Arsenal in their pursuit of Alexandre Lacazette.

Lat summer, Arsene Wenger went on a long and rather unfruitful escapade to try and sign a striker. Exiting the previous year with a good, reliable, but limiting Olivier Giroud leading the line, Wenger knew that for his Arsenal side to pose a genuine title threat he would have to improve drastically at the position. He was unable to.

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His first port of call was Jamie Vardy. A £20 million offer activated a release clause in his contract and Vardy remained in talks with Wenger for some time. However, after much rumour and conjecture, it was finally announced that Vardy would stay with Leicester, citing stylistic concerns.

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Wenger moved onto other targets. An offer for Alexandre Lacazette was rejected, Gonzalo Higuain was priced out thanks to a blockbuster move to Juventus, while Alvaro Morata never hit the market with Real Madrid exercising a buy-back clause. As such, Arsenal were forced to settle, eventually signing Lucas Perez for £17 million in the final week of the window.

But the need for a striker remains, and although many of the options that were explored last summer are now either unavailable or unwanted, there is one that has been touted as a possible recurrence of interest. Alexandre Lacazette has publicly stated that he believes his time has come to leave Lyon. He is entering the prime of his career, he wants to play in a more high profile league for a more high profile club, and to challenge himself against the very best in world football.

Arsenal had been touted as a possible destination. The only hiccup had been the lack of Champions League football on offer, something that Lacazette has described as a necessity for any possible suitors. However, while that may still be a sticking point during negotiation, the only other established club that is rumoured to be interested is Lacazette is Atletico Madrid, a team that has just suffered their transfer fan being upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

As such, even with Champions League football on the table, there is a window for the Gunners to take the first step towards signing a truly world-class, game-changing centre-forward. Just a few days ago, any deal was looking dead in the water thanks to Lacazette’s Champions League remarks.

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But now, there is renewed hope that Wenger can secure a deal for yet another talented Frenchman. That hope has come from a rather unlikely source, but if it helps bring Lacazette to the Emirates, then who gives a damn!