Lyon honcho Jean-Michel Aulas has told the media that his club will likely sell star-man Alexandre Lacazette this summer.
He’s even gone as far to suggest the 25-year-old French forward already has a potential destination in mind…
Liverpool are one of a number of clubs that have been linked with Lacazette, along with Arsenal and Atletico Madrid.
“Alex has a good option with a club that is in his heart,”Aulas said on Tuesday, cited in the Independent.
“If the club of his heart is able to match our demands—as Barcelona did last season for Sam Umtiti—then things will go well. Otherwise, it will depend on our other business.
“But if any players feel that this club is not big enough for them, we will look for others who are just as strong but have the right mentality as well.”
What potentially puts us in the driving seat is the fact that if we qualify for the Champions League, Arsenal won’t – and then there’s Atleti’s potential transfer ban as well…
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Lacazette has already stated he’s only moving to a club that qualified for Europe’s premier club competition.
“This summer I might go for a breath of fresh air and try something different, always with the idea of progressing in football and as a person,” he said.
“I’m going to keep working, with the hope that good opportunities come for me this summer.
“[The team I join] will have to be in the Champions League and play good football.”
This term, the rapid striker has bagged 35 goals in all competitions, which is basically double Liverpool’s best marksmen (Coutinho and Sadio Mane on 13 each).
Daniel Sturridge was brilliant at the weekend, but there’s doubts surrounding his long-term future because of his miserable injury record, while Divock Origi is too inconsistent right now to lead us to the Premier League.
Lacazette would be a marquee signing and would smash our £35m transfer record, but there’s no indications we’re the club he’s supposedly already earmarked.
Ideally, Sturridge can give us an entire season, fully fit, but realistically, we need to invest in a dynamic, pacy centre-forward to stretch teams when Roberto Firmino’s false-9 game isn’t working.