Mikel Arteta’s surprising stance on Lacazette revealed as Atletico Madrid show interest

Alexandre Lacazette joined Arsenal in the 2017 summer transfer window and he hasn’t lived up to expectations because he was brought in to replace Olivier Giroud but he was also however replaced six months later when the club decided to bring in Aubameyang in the January transfer window. Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta has benched Lacazette many times so far this season and reports from Spain are claiming that there might be more to that than being off form.

Alexandre Lacazette was one of Arsenal’s best players last season but he has however been poor in this 2019/20 campaign as he has scored just nine goals and even went on a goalless run of nine matches hence Mikel Arteta deciding to put him on the bench to start 20-year-old Eddie Nketiah. The gunners will be looking to revamp their squad in the summer and they’ll also reportedly lose some of their players to balance their wage bill which is currently high.

Spanish newspaper AS has released a report saying that Mikel Arteta does not view Alexandre Lacazette as an essential player in his squad and that Atletico Madrid is monitoring the situation because the Frenchman is on the list of the strikers that they will consider signing in the summer transfer window. The report also claims that Lacazette is aware of Arteta’s stance on him and that he is ready to use this opportunity to join Atletico Madrid who were close to signing him before they became transfer banned.

Lacazette has been heavily criticized in the last few months and his inability to score away goals in the Premier League has seen many Arsenal fans start calling for him to be sold. Atletico Madrid will reportedly be looking to cut ties with Diego Costa in the next transfer window hence freeing up a striker spot in their squad and the above report says that some of their targets are expensive but that Lacazette would be within their budget.