Lyon reject Arsenal’s offer for irreplaceable Lacazette

Lyon have announced that they have rejected an Arsenal bid for striker Alexandre Lacazette and have insisted that their star striker is not for sale.

Referring to a Le Progres report that said Arsenal had offered €48 million for Lacazette, 25, the Ligue 1 club issued a statement saying that was untrue and that the bid had actually been only €35m.

Lyon said they had not followed up on Arsenal’s offer because the France international is “irreplaceable.”

The statement read: “Olympique Lyonnais categorically denies having received an offer of €48 million from Arsenal for the transfer of Alexandre Lacazette as Le Progres claims in this morning’s edition.

“The club regrets once again that Le Progres did not bother to contact the club before publishing this false information which creates confusion on the day that the [ownership] group, on the stock exchange, publishes its annual turnover of €218.1 million, up 111 percent compared to 2014/2015.

“The reality is that Arsenal formulated an offer of €35 million which Olympique Lyonnais did not follow up on for one reason only: OL will keep Alexandre Lacazette who is irreplaceable and who is one of the main leaders of Bruno Genesio’s squad.”

Communiqué du club ! #Mercato #Lacazette pic.twitter.com/mEKZvHAobx

– Olympique Lyonnais (@OL) July 26, 2016

Lacazette has regularly been linked with the Gunners after scoring 48 goals in Ligue 1 over the past two seasons.

He signed a new contract last summer that ties him to Lyon until 2019.

Arsenal boss Arsenal Wenger, who failed in an effort to sign Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy earlier this summer, has said the club are willing to “spend big money.”

The Gunners’ only major signing so far ahead of the new season has been Switzerland midfielder Granit Xhaka, although Japanese striker Takumo Asano has also joined from Sanfrecce Hiroshima as well as defender Rob Holding from Bolton Wanderers.