Arsenal legend Ray Parlour has suggested Alexandre Lacazette should be sold by the club this summer to fund more signings to rebuild Mikel Arteta’s team.
Arteta has strengthened his side already with the arrival of Willian from Chelsea and permanent deals for loanees Pablo Mari and Cedric Soares.
William Saliba has also finally linked up with the Gunners after the end of his loan back at former club Saint-Etienne, while £27million defender Gabriel Magalhaes is set to follow.
But Arteta doesn’t want to stop there, with Atletico Madrid midfielder Thomas Partey high on the manager’s wanted list.
Meanwhile, Lacazette’s future at the Emirates is uncertain with Arsenal set to hand captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang a bumper new contract.
With Aubameyang expected to commit his future to the north London club, it is claimed the Gunners are willing to let Lacazette leave with the likes of Juventus and Atletico linked with an interest.
Is has also been claimed Lacazette has been offered to the Spanish club as part of a possible swap deal for Partey.
And Parlour believes Arsenal should cash-in on the striker while they can, saying he’s one of the few bankable assets the club has to raise money for more signings.
“Lacazette will be the one, the asset,” the former midfielder said on Friday’s talkSPORT Breakfast.
“You look at the assets they’ve got, there isn’t many really. They’ve got Aubameyang, but with him you’re not going to get as much as you’d like because, currently, he’s only got a year left on his contract.
“Probably the asset will be Lacazette. I know Juventus were interested in maybe buying him.
“Sometimes you have to lose a player to bring players in. You do need to freshen up the dressing room.
“I like Lacazette, he’s a decent player, but we have Eddie Nketiah and it’s all about whether he can step up now and improve as a centre-forward.
“That’s what Arteta will be looking at in training, ‘is he good enough to play week-in week-out as a striker?’ Probably not at the moment, but he can improve and probably can do in a couple of years’ time.”
Meanwhile, former Arsenal winger Perry Groves has insisted he is ‘not worried’ about the delay with Aubameyang’s new deal.
Word that the captain had agreed fresh terms was reported weeks ago, with claims they club were waiting for the striker to return from holiday before announcing he had signed a new contract.
But the Gunners’ pre-season preparations are well underway and Aubameyang is back in action, and fans are still waiting on tenterhooks for confirmation.
There’s also the links with a move to Barcelona that are refusing to go away, especially after the Spanish giants confirmed Lionel Messi has requested to leave.
Groves, however, is remaining calm.
“I’m pretty confident that’s he’s going to sign,” the two-time First Division winner said on White and Sawyer.
“Everything that has come out about it seems to be positive, and he’s got a good relationship with Arteta.
“Winning the FA Cup and scoring the two winning goals will make a difference, it will give him more belief this team is going in the right direction.
“So I’m not overly worried.
“I know people are mentioning about going to Barcelona if Messi leaves, but at this particular time, as a top player, you wouldn’t touch Barcelona with a barge pole!”
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