He’s been pretty solid back up recently and I hate him a lot less when he plays in a solo striker system as second choice.
Realistically with Auba’s age we need a younger back up on the cards and potentially someone better than Laca, I’d absolutely sell and reinvest. Is Edouard the one, I don’t know? I think shifting Laca for a younger player is definitely the smart play.
I’m also one of the few that want to see Martinelli getting some development at ST.
i’d rather not pay £50m and ruin potentially great stikers’ minutes, letting them leave for backups
The only thing we can do is sell him for whatever the fuck we can get. It will be sub £20m for sure but he’s not good enough to warrant a new contract particularly given his age + likely wage demands.
We simply cannot let another asset see out their contract and leave for free. Will be a shitty deal and it’ll look bad…but it’s better than nothing. Need to build a squad for the future so move his ass on.
Why would it look bad? Best for all parties.
I also think we can get 20-30m for him still. He has a good reputation around Europe and admirers in Italy, Spain and France. Only blocker would be the pandemic not easing off. Doesn’t look to be the case at the moment.
One year left on a player who’ll be 30 by next season’s start? £25m would be coup and there would be many PL clubs who can and would pay that.
The question would Laca take a step down or would his pride get in the way?
The issue is in 12 months time he walks on a free, so do you really want to offer him a 2 -3 year extension on 150k + a week to keep him ?
I agree he is a great squad player ATM but I just don’t want to see more of those type of contracts handed out to 30 year olds to play 2nd fiddle to Auba ?
Or do you mean you’d rather his services for another season and then lose him for free even if it means forfeiting 15-20 million quid ?
Definitely doable if they offer him a good contract imo.
Although, if I was him would want to try my luck in La Liga or Serie A.
I personally cannot understand why anyone would want this guy out of The Arsenal.
Lacazette is a fucking good player . The bigger issue is the fact there isn’t enough high attacking football from the midfield , instead of quick thinking forward passing , they would rather pass the ball back and back and back .
It was never going to happen given their respective form last year, but in retrospect I think Arsenal would have been better off selling Auba and giving Laca a new contract rather than the reverse. Laca would have been a better option to have around for developing Martinelli or another promising young striker.
Given that we resigned Auba, however, I think Laca definitely has to go. We need to turn the page and build for the future and we just can’t do that with two 30something strikers on big wages.
That’s where I initially stood as well. Having said that, the club just couldn’t let Auba go last summer. It would send the wrong message if we let him go the way he finished the season. Not only to our fans but to the football world in general.
As you said, as soon as we renewed Auba’s deal it was curtains for Laca.
I’m still glad to have signed Auba onto a contract and not Laca, it was the right decision then and its the right decision still.
Laca’s time at the club should come to an end, regardless of what we did with Auba. We shouldn’t be tying a fairly average player to a long, expensive contract at his age.
Don’t understand why would anyone want to sell Laca. He’s probably top of the pile in the league for back-up strikers. Isn’t on super crazy wages and would possibly agree to the club’s terms for his next extension. He’s a hard worker for the team, doesn’t moan and gets 15-20 goals per season without necessarily starting every game.
To replace him with an unknown young striker playing in Scotland or Portugal is madness especially considering the massive drop in form that Auba had this year.
We’re okay in the striker department. It’s other areas of the pitch that need improving and selling Laca isn’t going to do that. Doubt that anyone at the club has the ability to reappropriate the funds to strengthen other departments.
He’s around 200k a week IIRC. Getting rid of the wage while getting a fee would be ideal if we can get Eduard in for a bit extra
Because we have a very promising backup striker (I think this is where Arteta may see him) in Martinelli who isn’t playing. And another in Balogun who is going to leave partly because there is no route to playing time.
If we can get 15-20m for Laca, that can be put toward strengthening another area we really need to improve. Then we can give his minutes to Martinelli and really give him a chance to develop. Or we can use that fee to buy a new young striker as a third option.
His total number of goals in all comps with us is 17, 19 and 12 across his 3 full seasons with the club while we’ve been in the Europa League, its really not much to write home about imo. He’s never hit 20 in all comps. His figures are even less impressive if we look at league totals.
I think we could get someone in who is younger and on lower wages who can provide similar output with the added benefit of possibly one day being better, given the opportunity and some nurturing. Lacazette can only maintain his level or decline, he’s been the player he is capable of being for some time.
Resigning Auba was the right decision for me, Laca has been declining ever since he signed for us.
Auba has been improving if anything if you’re setting aside this season which should prove to be an anomaly. Having a top tier striker as the player we extended gives us more time to groom and find a successor. Retaining Laca and selling Auba would mean that time line would be rushed because Laca isn’t good enough.
thanks for the information
No problem 
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