Alexandre Lacazette to travel to London to complete £52m Arsenal move Matt Law, football news correspondent Jason Burt, chief football correspondent
2 JULY 2017 • 4:11PM
Alexandre Lacazette will travel to London to complete a club record move to Arsenal after the Gunners agreed a deal worth up to £52 million for the striker.
Arsenal have agreed to pay an initial £46m to Lyon for Lacazette, which will eclipse their previous record transfer of £42.5m for Mesut Ozil that was set in 2013.
Lyon could receive another £6m in add-ons, £2.6m of which are thought to be easy to achieve and the remaining £3.4m more difficult to reach.With personal terms a formality, Lacazette will now travel to London to complete medical examinations and formally sign for the Gunners.
Lyon owner Jean-Michel Aulas confirmed Lacazette's move, as first revealed by Telegraph Sport, by saying:
"Alexandre Lacazette's transfer to Arsenal could be actioned within the next day or two."It constitutes, without doubt, a record transfer fee for Arsenal and for Lyon of course!"
Lacazette had been destined to join Atletico Madrid, but the decision to uphold the Spanish club’s transfer ban until January let in Arsenal and they have wasted no time.
With Atletico in talks to sign Diego Costa from Chelsea and have him train at the club until January, 26-year-old Lacazette has been convinced that joining Arsenal is the right choice for him.
Arsenal failed in a bid to sign Lacazette 12 months ago, but now appear to have landed one of Wenger’s top targets despite not qualifying for this season’s Champions League.
Lacazette has netted over 20 Ligue 1 goals in each of his last three seasons for Lyon and scored 129 times in 275 appearances for the French club.
Monaco have rejected bids from Arsenal for Thomas Lemar, who they insist is not for sale, and Real Madrid target Kylian Mbappe.
It remains to be seen whether or not the signing of Lacazette will have an impact on the future of Alexis Sanchez, who is wanted by Manchester City.
Sanchez fears that Arsenal will refuse to sell him to a Premier League rival, but could threaten to run his contract down and leave on a free next summer if a bid from City is rejected.
There are also still doubts surrounding the futures of Mesut Ozil, who is yet to extend his contract, Hector Bellerin, who is wanted by Barcelona, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who has been linked with Liverpool.
Olivier Giroud is a target of West Ham United, who are willing to pay £20m for the 30-year-old, who is often picked in the France team ahead of Lacazette.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/07/02/alexandre-lacazette-travels-london-complete-52m-arsenal-move/
