Arsenal’s Alexandre Lacazette ‘to join Atletico Madrid for £30m when Aubameyang sign new contract’

Alexandre Lacazette is reportedly set to join Atletico Madrid this summer, should Arsenal captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang sign a new contract as expected. 

Lacazette joined Arsenal in the summer of 2017 from Lyon, but has often been on the substitutes bench since Mikel Arteta’s arrival at the club in December. 

And should Aubameyang sign a new deal in the coming weeks, 29-year-old Lacazette could move to Spain and join up with Diego Simeone’s side for £30million, according to the Daily Star.

Arsenal forward Alexandre Lacazette is set to move to Atletico Madrid for £30m this summer

Lacazette looks set to move on if Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang signs a new deal at the club

The report details that the French striker almost joined Atletico in 2017, before the Spanish side were hit with a transfer ban by FIFA. 

Lacazette is also reportedly unhappy at Arteta focusing his predominant plans around Aubameyang in the team, particularly with youngster strikers on the periphery of the first-team too.

Both Eddie Nketiah and Gabriel Martinelli have impressed at different points throughout the course of this season. 

The Gunners’ potential signing of free agent Willian, following his release from Chelsea, also slims Lacazette’s chance of regularly starting week in, week out.  

Yet Lacazette did start in last week’s FA Cup final victory over the Blues, in which Aubameyang scored a match-winning double. 

Aubameyang has less than 12 months on his contract and Arsenal run the risk of losing their talismanic captain for nothing next summer.

The Gabon international earns around £180,000-a-week but wants upwards of £250,000-a-week before he will consider extending his stay.

Right back Hector Bellerin is another player who could be leaving the Emirates this summer

Arteta knows he must sell players to generate the money required to land his first-choice transfer targets — and he could even offload Hector Bellerin if a sizeable offer is made for the player. 

Sokratis, Matteo Guendouzi, Lucas Torreira, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Sead Kolasinac — as well as Shkodran Mustafi and Rob Holding, who have played key roles for Arteta in recent weeks — are also in the shop window. 

The club want to sell Mesut Ozil, but their hopes of offloading the former Germany playmaker — and his £350,000-a-week salary — appear slim after his agent insisted Ozil would see out the final season of his contract.