Arsenal: Confusion in race for Argentine striker; Icardi latest; no to Frenchman

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Arsenal fans have been transported back to the summer of 2013, with Gonzalo Higuaín replacing Jamie Vardy at the heart of the latest transfer saga. Despite reports that Juventus had nipped in and agreed to pay Napoli’s hefty €93 buy-out clause as well as personal terms with the player, the Daily Express have claimed that information is false.

Arsenal obviously hold a serious interest in the 28-year-old striker; hardly surprising considering he bagged 36 Serie A goals last term. The Gunners are reluctant to meet Napoli’s release clause, not only because the player has no sell-on value whatsoever. One of the things that attracted Arsene Wenger to Jamie Vardy was that, at £25million, his purchase would leave enough money in the bank to buy a top-class wide player in addition to a striker.

Arsenal had serious talks with Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Borossia Dortmund, but were blown out of the water by the wages offered by Manchester United. Xhaka, Vardy and Mkhitaryan would have seen Arsenal’s work for the summer more or less completed. Wenger still hope to bring in a similar type of player, hence the links with Julian Draxler, and a major purchase like Higuaín might prevent this additional acquisition.

One matter that seems to have been clarified is that Arsenal have cooled their interest in Lyon forward Alexandre Lacazette. According to The Sun, Wenger was put off by Lyon’s £50m asking price for the 25-year-old who scored 21 Ligue 1 goals last term. This is not a great surprise; Lacazette has been a regular name in gossip columns for some time now and one feels that if Wenger really rated him then Arsenal would have moved some time ago.

It appears that Lacazette was being kept tabs on as a back-up option should Arsenal fail with one of their primary targets. His Lyon team mate Nabil Fekir is more likely to be the apple of Wenger’s eye, but he has agreed to stay at the club once he returns from a cruciate knee ligament injury.

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