Olympique Lyon’s chairman Jean-Michel Aulas has reiterated the club’s position not to sell Alexandre Lacazette, the man recently crowned as Ligue 1 Player of the Year.
Aulas went as far as telling Canal+ that the 23-year-old was “priceless.”
“You never have any certainties in football, but we are determined to keep him here. A transfer fee of €50m would not be enough for an attacker like him. He is priceless.”
Lacazette has been linked with Liverpool and a host of other premier league clubs since last summer when it was believed that he could command a fee around £20million. Now, his value has nearly doubled, if not more.
€50million converts to just north of £35million, a huge fee for the undeniably talented striker. Once upon a time in a memory suppressed deep, deep down in the medial temporal lobe of the brain lies the recollection that Liverpool recently paid similar money for a striker; Andy Carroll. The number 35 will forever be tainted in the minds of Liverpool fans.
In theory at least, Lacazette would be perfect for Liverpool or Arsenal; the clubs that would make the most sense for him to move to. At Liverpool, he replaces what they’ve lacked in pace, directness and a deft finishing touch. For Arsenal, maybe he’s a striker that pleases Theirry Henry enough for the club legend to take them serious as genuine title contenders after he’s explained how Olivier Giroud is not that man.
Lacazette scored 27 goals in 33 league appearances and he also assisted 6 goals and averaged 1.6 key passes per game. To put those numbers in perspective, Philippe Coutinho also averaged 1.6 key passes per game this campaign with one less assist. (stats from whoscored.com)
Without Lacazette, Lyon wouldn’t have sniffed the top of the table, where they found themselves falling just short of PSG for the French title. Aulas claims the Parisian club isn’t interested in his star man. “‘PSG? I have never spoken with Nasser Al Khelaifi about Alexandre. And I never get the impression PSG want him whenever I speak with Laurent Blanc.”
Lacazette would be a great signing for Liverpool but they’d have to pay a huge ransom for the Frenchman and convince him to forgo the Champions League football in 2015-16 he’d play with Lyon or most of his other suitors.
