Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone is considering a cut-price move for Arsenal striker Alexandre Lacazette, claims AS.
Lacazette has entered the final 12 months of his current Arsenal deal and the Gunners are not planning to hand the Frenchman an extension.
Arsenal are reluctant to hand ageing players new contracts after being burned by the likes of Mesut Ozil, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the past.
Lacazette joined Arsenal from Lyon in 2017 as club-record £47.5m transfer at the time but the 30-year-old has not fulfilled expectations.
The arrival of Aubayemang six months later seriously dented his first-team opportunities and now Arsenal are ready to cash in rather than let him leave for nothing next summer.
Simeone is reportedly keen to bolster his attacking options for the new campaign and there were talks to re-sign Antoine Griezmann from Barcelona.
However, Barcelona wanted a fee in addition to Saul Niguez and nothing could be agreed between the clubs and players.
Atletico are now considering their options and Lacazette is back on their radar with his asking price down to just €17m (£14.5m).
🎯 Alexandre Lacazette has the best conversion rate (50+ shots attempted) over the last two Premier League seasons (23.7%) pic.twitter.com/S6GmfoRJ2O
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) July 19, 2021
The Spanish side actually had an agreement to sign Lacazette from Lyon in 2017 only for a FIFA-imposed transfer ban to scupper their plans.
Atletico's appeal was unsuccessful and Lacazette ended up moving to Arsenal later that summer.
Lacazette has scored 10+ goals in all four of his Premier League campaigns for Arsenal and over the last two seasons had the best conversion rate (50+ shots) of all players in the division (23.7%).
