Wenger preparing to battle with Bilic for French star

His goals are the reason his team secured a Champion’s League spot in Ligue 1, but could Olympique Lyonnais’ Alexandre Lacazette now be on his way to the Emirates?

Behind only Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the French scoring charts last term, it seems likely the 25-year-old will be following Sweden’s all-time leading goalscorer to the Premier League, according to sources at Sky Sports News.

However, with West Ham also keen on the striker, will Arsene Wenger have a fight on his hands to capture his man?

Take away Olivier Giroud’s hat-trick against an already relegated Aston Villa side and Arsenal’s main striker would have finished the season with just 13 league goals, ten of which came before the turn of the year.

Throw into the mix the absence of Danny Welbeck for the majority of next season and its clear Wenger has a problem on his hands going forward – in which case a proven goalscorer of Lacazette’s calibre would seemingly be an ideal solution.

Though French football may be considered by many as less challenging than the English game, take nothing away from Lacazette, who has scored 48 league goals in the last two seasons – that’s just nine less than Ibrahimovic over the same period of time.

If Lacazette were to leave Les Gones and join the West Ham revolution under Slaven Bilic, he would be sacrificing Champions League football for at least a year, something which both his current club and Wenger’s Arsenal can guarantee him.

However, given that the French international has spent his entire career at Lyon, it may take a hefty transfer fee and a generous contract to prise Lacazette away from his hometown.

Rumoured to be valued at around £40m, the race for Lacazette’s signature may simply come down to which club are willing to splash the cash needed to secure his services.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing