Thierry Henry once said he was a huge fan of ‘rare’ talent, now Arsenal are reportedly about to bid for him

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Lucas Paqueta is apparently a target for Arsenal this summer and Thierry Henry has already spoken about his qualities.

Reports have suggested that Arsenal have been talking with both Paqueta and his Ligue 1 club Lyon over a move.

“Paqueta is a player Arteta really wants, though,” said journalist Ben Jacobs. “It won’t be an easy negotiation with Lyon and Newcastle have enquired, too.

“Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas is going to hold out for at least 55m and even asked for closer to 70m back in January.”

If Paqueta comes to Arsenal, Gunners legend Henry will be the standard of career he wants to get to.

If he even has half of that, he will be very happy indeed and early last season Henry said of the Brazilian on French TV: “It’s really early in the seasons to say,”

“But he can do all the fancy stuff such as dribbles and no look passes.

“But what really impressed him is that he has a lot of desire & commitment. He works hard.

“He’s a real team player who does both his defensive duties & attacking duties with a smile which is rare.”

Jacobs, writing on GiveMeSport, reckons Jean-Michel Aulas could be after £55 million for the playmaker, which would be a lot on top of what Arsenal have already spent this summer.

They need a more conventional central midfielder and perhaps Youri Tielemans and Oleksandr Zinchenko are greater priorities at this stage.

But if Arteta is keen to sign Paqueta, he will find a club legend in Henry, who is willing to back the move and excited by it.