Arsenal’s Alexandre Lacazette bid must rise to £57million, insists Lyon chief Jean-Michel Aulas
Ligue 1 club's CEO Jean-Michel Aulas hints the club could wait for Atletico Madrid's transfer ban to be lifted in January 2018
ARSENAL'S bid for Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette must rise to at least £57million if they are to get the deal over the line this summer.
The Ligue 1 club's CEO Jean-Michel Aulas insists the Gunners must match Atletico Madrid's offer as they may wait until their transfer ban is lifted in January 2018.
The Lyon chief also says him and general manager Gerard Houllier met Arsene Wenger during England's 3-2 defeat to France.
The Arsenal boss insisted they may be interested in a move for the forward, but did not give anything else away.
Speaking to L'Equipe, Aulas said: "I do not intend to cede Alexandre [Lacazette] quickly, because there is always the will of Atletico Madrid to bring it [the transfer] to January 1.
"Now I also listen to what Alexandre says. I saw Arsene [Wenger] during the France versus England match.
Most read in football
"I was with Gerard Houllier and I understand that he told Gerard that there could be interest from Arsenal.
"But it's premature to say that things will happen. It takes a very large transfer before. A player of that quality cannot be allowed to leave without having his replacement.
"It will have to be at least that [£57m].
"Everyone knows that the offer of Atletico is €53m [£46.5m] plus €12M [£10.5m].
That's €65m [£57m].
"As the leaders of Arsenal are well informed, they will be in those waters."
"The prices for a player who marks every year with between 25 and 30 goals, sometimes more than 30, is at least that.
"But frankly, I have not thought about Arsenal for the moment, because I thought that Alexandre would stay because of the failure, initially, with the Atletico Madrid move."