Given how often Jean-Michel Aulas speaks, it’s easy to credit him with fake quotes, and that happens very often too.
It happened once again over the weekend when Le Progres and others in France credited information to the Lyon president, only for him then to take to his Twitter account and dismiss it all as fake news.
Before that, L‘Equipe reported on Saturday that Alexandre Lacazette was very close to an Arsenal transfer, for a fee in the region of €60m. It was even suggested Lacazette could move before the end of the weekend, although that seemed too short a time period.
Fast forward to Monday and L’Equipe say Lacazette should travel for his Arsenal medical either on Tuesday or ‘at the latest’ Wednesday.
As for the negotiations, there doesn’t seem to be a great deal of progress. A deal is likely to be in the region of €60m, and it’s the details of that which need to be finalised, how much is down to bonuses, and how those bonuses are drawn up.
Aulas will want to come out of this looking like he’s got a win, so Arsenal need to massage the Lyon president’s ego a little.
Lacazette, explain L’Equipe, is completely sure he wants to sign for Arsenal and will likely sign a five year contract with the Premier League club.