Arsenal: Alexandre Lacazette desperation shows huge fragility
By Josh Sippie
Arsenal has been waiting for a dynamic striker since Robin van Persie slithered away, but this Alexandre Lacazette desperation is just too much.
For so long I swore that Alexandre Lacazette was destined to come to Arsenal. year after year the deal seemed right on the brink and year after year it failed to go through. This summer, the deal looked to be off forever, as the Gunners would be without Champions League football, which the French strike required, plus he had agreed to go to Atletico Madrid.
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However, now that Atletico’s transfer ban has not been overturned, Lacazette has two options: Find a new destination or stay at Lyon yet again, despite even more overt statements about how he is ready to leave.
Naturally, as soon as Lacazette to Atletico was off, the tabloids swarmed it, saying that the deal to the Gunners could be back on.
That all just smacks of desperation, which is attached to the massive fragility that the Gunners are harboring up front. When so much of what they need to be successful depends on one undermanned position, each and every little thing is massive.
But even then, being Lacazette’s second choice is far from flattering and I’d hate to have any doubts that he wants to be here. A move for him now would be opportunistic, yes, but it would also be, to use the word again, desperate. He chose not to come here.
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This is just a continuation of the same old problem. The one thing the Gunners truly need is someone to indisputably claim that striker role and not let it go.
Hopefully this will finally be the summer where it is fixed. And from the looks of the rumors, it is shaping up to be. With reports indicating that a massive £87m bid has been tabled for Kylian Mbappe, optimism has to be skyrocketing that maybe Lacazette isn’t good enough.
He always seemed to be the poor man’s Antoine Griezmann anyway.
That’s the crossroads that Arsenal is at. Do you pursue the guy who chose another team over yours or do you go all in, open up the transfer coffers and end all doubts? This is the Arsenal, they deserve the best of the best, no questions asked. And if they aren’t someone’s ‘best of the best’ than their stock should diminish. Expanding on that, wouldn’t it make the Gunners look fragile in their own ability to get who they want?
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That being said, if Mbappe is secured, then all of this is meaningless. Let Lacazette stay at Lyon forever for all I care, Mbappe is a superstar.