Arsenal: Lille stance on Renato Sanches asking price

Some players’ form comes in fits and starts. Alexandre Lacazette is a prime example of this, at least at Arsenal, where he has purple patches in front of goal followed by barren spells of painful absence. From a spectator’s point of view, the same can be said of Renato Sanches.

With the European Championships now into the quarter-final stages, 24 teams have been whittled down to just eight. Bukayo Saka is the only remaining Arsenal player left who can play in the quarter-final stage, following Xhaka’s suspension.

Big hitters Germany, France and the Netherlands are out, but despite the major upsets, Portugal continue to garner plenty of attention, mostly due to one man. And no, it’s not Cristiano Ronaldo.

On the hunt for midfielders this summer, Arsenal are within touching distance of announcing their first one: Albert Sambi Lokonga. The emphasis is on the Belgian not being the sole arrival in that department as it would be suicidal of Mikel Arteta to enter into a Premier League season with the bodies he has on board presently.

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Lille stance on Renato Sanches asking fee would outprice Arsenal this summer transfer window despite the midfielder’s obvious talent

Come winter it may be only Joe Willock and Lokonga around to man the fort, and even Willock could be moved on if the right offer arrives. Thus, with numerous profiles available depending on whether Arsenal will replace Granit Xhaka with a like-for-like or try to be more expansive with a box-to-box option, one name has cropped up.

Onlookers have been smitten by his performances for A Seleção, in particular his display against France in which he glided around the pitch with a delicate grace that incorporated clever carries and inventive attacking prowess.

90min then reported last week that Sanches features among the Gunners’ summer targets. It’s stated that it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Lille cash this window and try to scoop a profit on their £18m investment (Lille are quite magnificent at that), with sources stating that the 22-year-old is keen to prove himself in the Premier League.

However, as recently as March, the French side had slapped a €80m price tag on the midfielder, as noted by France-based journalist Matt Spiro, and given his performances in the Euros, it’s increasingly unlikely that they’ll lower that figure by any large amount despite the financial troubles facing French football clubs.

The clamour from Arsenal supporters, and those of rival clubs who were all smitten by his Portugal displays, grew when his former teammate Gabriel posted a message on his Instagram asking him to ‘come to Arsenal’. The midfielder duly obliged with ‘I’m [I’ll] wait for your invitation’.

Naturally that stirred the pot, yet could quite easily mean Gabriel just wants to see his old pal which, in truth, it definitely does.

But the fanfare around Sanches hasn’t dissipated. Is he someone Arsenal should be looking at?

Continued…