Why Arsenal need to sell Lacazette before the start of the season

Stefan Bienkowski

• 13 Aug 2021 11:27 BST
• 3 min read

Arsenal will have to be bold in the remaining weeks of the summer transfer window if they hope to put together a squad capable of challenging for a top four spot in this season’s Premier League.

Mikel Arteta has added defensive stability with the signing of Ben White and defensive midfielder Albert Sambi Lokonga, but we’ve yet to see the Arsenal manager address his troubled front line.

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That simply may be down to the fact that the club have spent most of their budget on the aforementioned stars, which means Arsenal may have to sell a few stars before they can bring in a striker like Lautaro Martinez from Inter.

If so, the club may be in luck. Not only is senior striker Alexandre Lacazette wanted by a number of clubs but should also be sold as quickly as possible.

Why sell Lacazette?

Since joining from Lyon, the French striker has run up impressive – although perhaps not exceptional – numbers for Arsenal over the last three and a half seasons.

In the 2017/18 season Lacazette averaged 0.77 goal contributions (i.e goals and assists) per 90 minutes of Premier League football. That average hit a peak in the following season when the striker was averaging 0.83, but dropped to 0.77 in 2019/20 and then fell further to just 0.69 last season.

On top of that, there is the growing concern that the striker can often get in the way of Arteta’s real hopes of using other players in attack, while having to accommodate Lacazette as his undisputed No.9.

With the French goal scorer gone, Arteta could instead experiment with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as his lone striker and move players like Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe and Gabriel Martinelli around his attacking three. Or sign some new stars.

How much could Arsenal get for him?

While it seems evident that Lacazette’s time at Arsenal should perhaps come to an end, there are apparently no shortage of potential suitors for the senior striker.

Atletico Madrid, Sevilla, Inter and Roma have all been linked with a move for the French striker in recent months and could be tempted to bid if he is indeed up for sale.

At this moment in time, the Arsenal talisman is currently valued at €29.8 million but would likely go for less if clubs are aware of the London side’s desire to move the striker on.